Fraser Coast Libraries were lucky enough to be have Maryborough Hospital Museum's member, Marilyn Jensen present the history of the Hospitals as part of our local history talk series. The link to the Libraries' recording of this talk can be found here.
 |
| Marilyn Jensen Maryborough Hospital Museum's Member |
Maryborough Hospital will mark 130 years of caring for its community from its current Walker Street site, and it is celebrating with a family fun day for staff and the community. The family fun day will take place Saturday, May 20, from 10am – 2pm.
Maryborough's current public general hospital has been operational in Walker Street since 1887 – 130 years this May, but in actual fact the history of Maryborough's public hospital commenced in the 1850s.
By the early 1850s, the fledgling settlement of Wide Bay was becoming quite a prosperous town and by 1856 the move to establish a hospital gained momentum. A committee was formed (known initially as the Wide Bay and Burnett District Hospital Committee) and met a few times but nothing became of it for about three years. Some cottages may have been used during this time but the history is inconclusive.
A second committee in 1859 got things moving and rented a succession of cottages as hospitals. The first was the Church of England parsonage near Walker and Lennox Streets for about six months, then a house (said to be a slab hut) from a Constable Doran, and later a house in Ferry St from a Mrs McAdam. This house was used until the new hospital in Lennox St (between Sussex and Kent St) was built and occupied by July 1864. It was the first purpose built hospital outside of Brisbane.
 |
| Lennox St Hospital c 1865. Source: Qld State Archives |
Population growth, influenced by immigration saw the expansion of the hospital and its services and after four years, a new wing was added to the Sussex St side of the building. As a result of Polynesians being bought in as farm labour, a Polynesian ward was built as a separate building at the rear of the hospital and a few years later extended. The hospital building had problems with damp which was overcome by cementing and painting the outside walls.
In 1874 with more increases in population growth, an additional wing was added on the Kent St side of the main building. The hospital's first Resident Surgeon, Dr Little, was employed and a residence for him built in the grounds. By 1882 the hospital's first trained nurse was employed and things that we take for granted today such as gas and water supply were added. By this time it was obvious that the hospital was deteriorating and not suited to the continued population growth and land was secured in Walker St for a new hospital. By 1885, building of the new hospital commenced. This was completed in 1887 with the hospital being officially opened on the 20th May with much celebration and after 23 years at the Lennox St site, hospital services were relocated to the new hospital soon after where it remains today. The buildings at Lennox St were handed over for police barracks and later both land and buildings were purchased by the Defence Department.
 |
| Lennox St Hospital, after 1875. Source: Wide Bay Hospitals Museum Soc. Inc |
The hospital built on the Walker Street site was an impressive complex of two storey masonry buildings linked by single storey covered walkways. The elevated site, on the outskirts of town was suited to the principles of pavilion design and the scale and detail of the buildings reflected the importance of the city at the time. Constructed by builder Robert Taylor for £16,000 to the design of colonial architect John James Clark, it comprised a two storey central administration block with a two storey L shaped wing on each side (a west wing and a east wing) and a single storey kitchen behind in a symmetrical arrangement. All the buildings were linked by single storey covered walkways. A single storey residence for the medical superintendent was also built as well as a morgue. Only one wing (the east wing) and the central block were originally occupied.
 |
| Maryborough Hospital Walker St, 1887. Source: Wide Bay hospitals Museum Soc. Inc |
Acknowledgements:
Wide Bay Hospitals Museum Soc. Inc.
State Library Qld
Published with consent from Marilyn Jensen
Tags# Maryborough #Hospital #museum #Widebay #funday
No comments:
Post a Comment