Concord Repatriation General Hospital (abbreviated CRGH), commonly referred to as Concord Hospital, is a major hospital in Sydney, Australia, on Hospital Road in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

. It is a teaching hospital of

Sydney Medical School The University of Sydney School of Medicine, also known as Sydney Medical School (SMS) is the graduate medical school of the University of Sydney. Established in 1856, it is the first medical school in Australia. In 2018, Sydney Medical School ...

at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, where it is referred to as Concord Clinical School, and a major facility in the Sydney Local Health District and the former

Sydney South West Area Health Service Sydney South West Area Health Service, abbreviated SSWAHS and known by the corporate name Sydney South West Health, was an area health service charged with the provision of public health services in central and south-western Sydney. It was formed ...

. The NSW Statewide Severe Burn Injury Service and the

Bernie Banton Bernard Douglas Banton AM (13 October 1946 – 27 November 2007) was an Australian social justice campaigner. He was the widely recognized face of the legal and political campaign to achieve compensation for the many sufferers of asbestos-relat ...

Centre, an asbestos diseases research institute, are located there. Parts of the television series '' All Saints'' were filmed at CRGH.

History

Prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

Yaralla Estate The Yaralla Estate, also known as the Dame Eadith Walker Estate and now home to the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital, is a heritage-listed hospital at The Drive, Concord West, City of Canada Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ''Yaralla'' wa ...

on which the hospital is built belonged to philanthropist Thomas Walker and subsequently his daughter Dame

Eadith Walker Dame Eadith Campbell Walker (18 September 1861 - 8 October 1937) was an Australian heiress and philanthropist. Life and career Eadith Campbell Walker was born at The Rocks, Sydney, the only child of Scottish parents, Thomas Walker, a merchant ...

. A small hospital had already been established on the site, known as the

Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital The Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital Buildings are a heritage-listed complex which formed the former Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital, located at Hospital Road, Concord West, City of Canada Bay, New South Wales, Australia. The site is no ...

. Following the death of Dame Eadith in 1937, the property was bequeathed to the Crown for development as a public hospital.''Walker Trusts Act 1938'' No. 31, as amended. State of New South Wales. The current hospital was commissioned in 1939 as a general hospital for the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), who ...

and opened on 11 March 1941. When completed in 1942, the 2,000-bed Yaralla Military Hospital (113th Australian General Hospital .G.H. was the largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere. The main hospital building (currently known as the Multi Building) was one of the tallest buildings in Sydney when completed and its design won architects

Stephenson & Turner Originally known as Stephenson and Meldrum (1921–1937), Stephenson and Turner (1938–1995) was a prominent Australian architectural firm, best known for the pioneering modernism of their numerous hospital designs of the 1930s and 1940s. Arthur ...

the Sulman Award in 1946. Following the war, the hospital became a repatriation hospital for returned servicemen under the jurisdiction of the

Commonwealth government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

, with a change in name to Repatriation General Hospital, Concord (RGHC). In 1963, RGHC became a teaching hospital of the

. Recognising the growing community need, the hospital began providing care for general community patients in 1974, including the opening of an emergency department in 1977. In 1993, the hospital was transferred to the Central Sydney Area Health Service of the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Department of Health as a public hospital and renamed to the current Concord Repatriation General Hospital.

Memorials

Although it is no longer under the jurisdiction of the

Department of Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

, the hospital retains a historical significance to the

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

s community in New South Wales. A number of memorials maintain these links, including: * Australian Hospital Ship ''Centaur'' memorial, a

stained-glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

adjacent to the main entrance of the hospital *

Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway The Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway is a walking track and war memorial located in the suburb of Concord West, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located along Brays Bay on the Parramatta River, and is a unique tribute to the Australian ...

and memorial rose garden, forming the major part of the designated route for commuting to/from Rhodes railway station. *

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Ne ...

remembrance services

Future

During mid-2006, construction work commenced on a new mental health precinct at the northern end of the hospital grounds. On completion the Sydney South West Area Mental Health Service (SSWAHMS) will relocate the majority of its existing services from

The Rozelle Hospital The Callan Park Hospital for the Insane (1878 – 1914) is a heritage-listed former insane asylum, which was subsequently, for a time, used as a college campus, located in the grounds of Callan Park, an area on the shores of Iron Cove in Lilyfi ...

to the new facilities at CRGH.

Gallery

File:CRGH Main entrance.jpg, Concord Repatriation General Hospital Main Entrance File:CRGH Main Emergency entrance.jpg, Concord Repatriation General Hospital Main Emergency Ambulance Entrance File:CRGH Main Emergency entrance 2.jpg, Concord Repatriation General Hospital Main Emergency Entrance

References

External links