Toowoomba Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Toowoomba Hospital |
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| Location | Pechey Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | c. 1880–c. 1927 |
| Official name: Toowoomba Hospital, Toowoomba Base Hospital | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 28 July 2000 |
| Reference no. | 601296 |
| Significant period | 1880s–1920s (fabric) 1880s–1940s (historical, social) |
| Significant components | fence/wall – perimeter, mortuary, pipeline – steam, ward – open air, gate – entrance, kitchen/kitchen house, trees/plantings, residential accommodation – quarters |
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The Toowoomba Hospital is a special old hospital in Toowoomba, Australia. It's listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because of its history and unique buildings. The hospital was built between 1880 and 1927. It's also known as Toowoomba Base Hospital.
Contents
A Look Back: How Toowoomba Hospital Started
The Toowoomba General Hospital opened in 1880 at its current spot on James Street. This was the third place a public hospital had been in the city. Over the years, the hospital has changed a lot. Big updates happened in the 1890s-1910s, 1950s-1960s, and again in the late 1990s. Some older buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s are still there today.
Hospitals for Everyone: Early Days
In the past, public hospitals were built for people who couldn't afford private doctors. Local groups of volunteers usually started these hospitals. They often found it hard to raise enough money to build and run them. The government often gave money to help build the hospital buildings.
Things changed in 1923 with a new law called the Hospitals Act. This law made hospitals and public health a main job for the government. Hospital boards were created all over the state to manage local hospitals. The Toowoomba Hospital was first run by volunteers. After 1923, a Hospital Board took over.
Choosing the Right Spot
People started talking about building a hospital in Toowoomba way back in 1856. At first, a small house was rented in Russell Street in 1859 to provide hospital services. By 1864, a wooden hospital was built. Sadly, it burned down on Christmas Day in 1867.
Plans for a new brick building were made by Richard George Suter. He was an architect from Brisbane who designed many hospitals. Suter believed in the "pavilion plan." This design made sure patients had lots of light and fresh air. This idea was used for hospital buildings until the 1930s.
For many years, people thought the hospital was too close to the growing city center. In the 1800s, hospitals were usually built on high ground away from the city. This helped with air flow. In 1878, the hospital bought 29 acres of land at the corner of James and Pechey Streets. The government gave £10,000 to build the new hospital.
The First Buildings: What Was Built?
The first buildings on the new site were designed by FDG Stanley, the Queensland Colonial Architect. They included a large, two-story building with four wards. Each ward could hold 16 beds. A two-story kitchen and laundry building was connected to the main building.
These buildings were made of brick with stone details. They looked like many other large public buildings Stanley designed. Out of all the buildings Stanley designed for the Toowoomba Hospital, only the kitchen building is still standing. The hospital was ready to open in 1880.
More buildings were added later. In 1889, homes for staff and the medical boss were built. A new part called the Victoria Wing was added in 1899. An operating room was added in 1907. These buildings are no longer there.
The Unique Morgue
In 1896, a small, fancy morgue was built at the western end of the hospital. It was designed by Harry Marks. Before this, the morgue was at the old hospital site. This morgue was special because it was decorated with detailed timber work. Most morgues were just plain and practical. This building was used until 1940 and is now a storage room.
Freshney House: A Home for Nurses
On April 24, 1912, Lady William MacGregor laid the first stone for a new nurses' home. This building is now called Freshney House. It's used for education and offices. It cost £5180 to build and was designed by William Hodgen.
Hodgen was born in Toowoomba. He designed many beautiful buildings there, especially homes. Freshney House has two stories with wide verandahs, which is common for Queensland buildings. It also has special decorative details. It was built to give nurses a place to live, eat, and train.
The Open-Air Ward: A New Idea
An open-air isolation ward was built in 1916. This building was for people with infectious diseases. The idea was that fresh air would help stop the spread of germs. The ward was designed to be open to the weather. Canvas blinds could be rolled down to protect from rain or cold. Later, timber walls replaced the blinds because of the cold. This type of ward was a Queensland invention, and very few of them still exist.
Cossart House: More Space for Nurses
In 1927, another large brick building for nurses was built. This is now called Cossart House. It was needed because more hospitals were being built and existing ones were growing. Also, a new award for hospital nurses in 1921 meant better living and working conditions were needed. Nurses' homes were built all over the state because of this.
Cossart House was named after a matron (head nurse) named Ethel Beatrice Cossart in the 1940s. When a new nurses' home was built in the 1960s, Cossart House was used for other things. Today, it holds education and office facilities.
Modernizing the Hospital: The 1950s and Beyond
By the 1950s, medical science had advanced a lot. Toowoomba's population was also growing. The hospital needed major changes. Some old buildings, like the original 1880 hospital and the 1926 maternity ward, were removed. Many new brick buildings were constructed.
These new buildings included a maternity hospital (1955), a chest ward (1956), new nurses' quarters (1960), and a surgical ward (1960). Many of these were designed by architects from Brisbane.
In the late 1990s, the hospital expanded again. A new entrance, a breast screening clinic, a multi-story parking garage, and a "medical village" were added. The medical village has private offices for doctors. This new development is mostly at the eastern end of the hospital site.
Exploring the Hospital Grounds
The Toowoomba Hospital is on a large piece of land, about 11.3 hectares. It's about 2 kilometers from the center of Toowoomba and sits on high ground, so you can see it from far away. There are about 25 buildings on the site. Most of them are from the 1950s or later. The oldest buildings are mostly in the south-west corner.
Freshney House: The Old Nurses' Quarters
Freshney House, built in 1912-13, is a two-story brick building. It has wide, wooden verandahs on both floors. It's located on the western side of the hospital, near where the original entrance was. The building has a rectangular shape with parts sticking out in the middle. Later additions have made it bigger, but you can still see the original design.
The roof is steep and covered with corrugated iron. It has special decorative gables and small vents. Two brick chimneys stick up from the roof. The verandahs are supported by wooden columns with unique art nouveau designs. The first-floor verandah has a wooden railing with decorative panels.
Under the verandahs, Freshney House is made of brick with stone details around the windows and doors. Many French doors open onto the verandahs, showing that it used to have many separate bedrooms. The main entrance has a small balcony-like part on the first floor.
Inside, the ground floor has been changed, but the first floor is mostly the same. It still has its original layout and features, including pressed metal ceilings.
Cossart House: Another Nurses' Home
Cossart House, built in 1927, is a large, two-story brick building. It has a big open courtyard in the middle. Both the outside and the courtyard sides have two-story verandahs. The roof is covered with corrugated iron and has eight large metal vents. These vents are big and have pyramid-shaped roofs.
The verandahs are supported by wooden columns on the first floor and brick pillars on the ground floor. The upper verandah has a wooden railing. The brick walls have French doors, which originally led to individual bedrooms. The building was designed with central hallways and small bedrooms, all with access to the verandahs.
The Old Kitchen (1880)
This is a two-story brick building with a corrugated iron roof. It has square-arched windows with stone sills and tops. It's located behind Freshney House and is connected by covered walkways. This is the oldest building on the hospital site and the only one left from the original complex built in 1880. The inside has been changed, but the outside looks much the same. The original verandahs are gone.
An old covered walkway extends from the eastern side of the kitchen. It's supported by different types of columns, including two large stone ones that might have been part of the original 1880 hospital.
The 1896 Morgue
This is a small, unusually decorated building at the southern end of the site, near Freshney House. It's the 1896 morgue designed by Henry Marks. The roof is covered with corrugated iron and has decorative timber details. It's now used as a storage room.
The 1916 Open Air Ward
In the south-west corner of the site is what used to be an open-air ward. It's a small wooden building on a concrete base. The building is covered with fibrous sheeting, and the roof is corrugated iron. It's thought that part of the building was open to the weather. Canvas blinds could be used to protect it. Later, wooden walls were built to replace the blinds. The other part of the building had bathrooms and other facilities. This building is mostly still in its original form.
Hospital Grounds and Features
The hospital grounds have several important features. These include large, old trees, the fence along West Street, and the old masonry gates from West Street. There's also a system of steam pipes raised on metal columns. This steam system is common in old hospitals.
Newer Buildings (1950s and Beyond)
The buildings from the 1950s are mostly two to four stories tall and made of brick. They have long, thin shapes, horizontal window bands, concrete awnings, and flat roofs. These newer buildings are not part of the heritage listing.
The largest 1950s building is in the center of the site. The 1955 maternity wing is a two-story brick building in the south-east corner. A former chest ward from 1957 is in the north-east corner.
Recently, the Toowoomba Hospital has added a large new entrance, new wards, a medical village for private doctors, and big administration and research buildings. Most of this new development is at the eastern end of the site and is not part of the heritage listing.
Why Toowoomba Hospital is Special
The Toowoomba Hospital was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on July 28, 2000, for several reasons:
- It shows how hospitals have changed over time. The hospital is a great example of a public hospital from the 1880s. Its different building phases show how healthcare and public health ideas have developed. Freshney House and Cossart House, both old nurses' homes, are especially important. They show how nursing education and the nursing profession grew in Queensland.
- It has rare and unique buildings. The hospital has two buildings from the 1800s that are rare in Queensland. The old open-air ward is a rare example of how infectious diseases were treated in the past. The 1896 morgue is also a rare 19th-century morgue and is unusually decorative.
- It shows important architectural styles. Many buildings on the site have special architectural meaning. Freshney House (1912) mixes Arts and Crafts style with traditional Queensland building features. Cossart House (1927) is a grand residential building with a central courtyard and unique ventilation towers on its roof. The 1896 morgue is a small, unusually decorative building.
Images for kids
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Toowoomba Hospital in 2008
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Toowoomba Hospital in 2000
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