Renowned Bendigo psychiatrist John Bomford launched his new history of the Bendigo Psychiatric Service at the Bendigo Library on Wednesday night, dedicating it to the centre’s former staff and patients.
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Dr Bomford said one former client, Donna Lawrence, provided particular inspiration when she decided to paint his portrait for entry into the Archibald Prize.
“It didn't get into the Archibald but it did get publicity in the Cunningham Dax Centre, which is a gallery which exhibits ex-patients’ art work,” he said.
“I thought ‘oh God, I'm going to be in the public eye, I'll have to write something about myself’, so that’s how I came to write it.
“Now we’ve become friends and she’s come all the way from Queensland to be here tonight.”
Ms Lawrence said she had chosen Dr Bomford as a subject because he was the most Buddhist-like non-Buddhist she had ever met.
“It was just wonderful when John said I could paint his portrait because I’d always wanted to put something in the Archibald and I’d finally found someone worthy,” she said.
“He’s very calm and he’s so kind and he’s got an amazing sense of humour – I love him.”
Dr Bomford moved to Bendigo from his native United Kingdom in 1964 to establish the Bendigo Psychiatric Service, which survived until the mid-1990s.
“I arrived in Bendigo in 1964 and did the best I could with the idea of starting a service,” he said.
After jokingly suggesting he would become an Australian citizen if Australia won the America’s Cup in 1983, Dr Bomford changed his allegiance “from the Queen of England to the Queen of Australia” in the former Shire of Strathfieldsaye Council offices on September 27 of that year.
The John Bomford centre at Bendigo Health is named in his honour and now serves as the “nerve centre for psychiatric outreach to patients and their families in the Bendigo region”.
The old Bendigo Psychiatric Centre now serves as a weedless surface in Dr Bomford’s garden.