The building of Ararat was contracted to O'Grady, Glynn and O'Callaghan[2] and not patients (or "inmates" as they were called) as many erroneously believe.

Despite being closed as an asylum the facility continued to house female prisoners during the building/renovation of Dame Phyllis Frost Centre right up until its current management took over in 2001.

It was to cater for those persons who were detained in any jail, reformatory or industrial school or other place of confinement, who appeared to be insane.

The ward was not a separate institution in its own right and has continued to function as a division of the Ararat Mental Hospital.

In 1997, the remaining patients at AFPC were eventually transferred to Rosanna, until the new Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield was completed.

The Polytechnic campus was established to provide a world-class wine and hospitality training facility in Victoria.

There are regular paranormal investigations at the hospital, and it is considered one of the most haunted locations in Victoria, possibly all of Australia.