The Dax Centre

Architect: Lyons Architects, 2012

University of Melbourne Parkville Campus | UoMP05

Building Description

PRINT PROGRAM AMENDMENT: Since the program launch The Dax Centre will now provide guided tours, no bookings required. All other details remain the same.

The Dax Centre is a leader in the use of art to raise awareness and reduce stigma towards mental illness. Housed in the award-winning Melbourne Brain Centre in Parkville, the gallery seeks to engage, inform, and encourage community connections and conversations about mental health.

Alongside the gallery, The Dax Centre includes educational facilities, curatorial space and storage for the Cunningham Dax Collection, a heritage-listed collection of artworks created by artists with lived experience of mental health issues or psychological trauma. The Collection contains over 16,000 pieces and includes works created in Victoria’s psychiatric institutions from the 1960s to 1980s. The Collection is named after Dr Eric Cunningham Dax AO (1908-2008), credited with being one of the first psychiatrists in the world to see the potential of art for promoting better health for people living with mental health issues.

Designed by Lyons, the Melbourne Brain Centre was one of the first and largest research facilities in Australia to gain five stars in the Green Star environmental design rating. Lyons received the 2012 Australian Institute of Architects’ Victorian Chapter (Public Architecture) Award for the building.

What's On

Experience an exclusive guided tour of the current exhibition Finding Our Words, featuring visual and written works from the Cunningham Dax Collection, a tour of the back-of-house curatorial area and the storage facilities for the Collection. Visitors will also have an opportunity to view additional works from the Historic Collection.

Location