It was designed by the New South Wales Government Architect's Office and built from 1906 to 1959 by the Department of Public Works.

[1] On 25 August 1900, the government proclaimed 1300 acres on the shores of Lake Macquarie as reserved for an Asylum for the Insane.

Arthur John Wilson was transferred from Kenmore Mental Hospital in Goulburn to supervise construction of roadways to enable access for building, including “The Avenue”, now the main road leading to the township of Morisset.

The first medical officer, Dr Samson, commenced duty in 1912, replacing a Gosford doctor visiting once a week.

[1] The building programme was largely suspended during World War I, although the hospital fishing fleet was assembled and the main store completed in 1916.

World War II resulted in another halt to construction work due to a lack of funds.

A serious drought in 1939 resulted in an acute water shortage at Morriset, requiring the construction of an emergency service from Pourmalong Creek.

It is approximately 3 km south-east of the township of Morisset south of Duck Hole Creek and facing east.

The site extends as far west as the railway line, east to Charles Avenue, Kendall Grange, north to Fishery Point Road and approximately half a kilometer south of the Forensic Psychiatry Wards (which are south-west of the main hospital campus, inside a 6m high walled enclosure[4] on the western side of Lake Macquarie, which forms a natural (eastern) boundary.

[1] The eastern side of the grounds is bounded by the Lake Macquarie State Recreation Area, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Scribbly gum and bloodwood (E.haemostoma) forest dominate the sandstone-based soil zones on higher ground.

[1] Some remnant trees on the northern side of the Recreation Hall and southern end of Eucalyptus Drive are likely to predate development of the site, based on trunk diameters.

Older sections of the cemetery are set aside in General, Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting (Presbyterian/Methodist) rows.

[7][1] Morisset Hospital Precinct was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

[1] This Wikipedia article was originally based on Morisset Hospital Precinct, entry number 00827 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.