Tea time at the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, 1890-1900 (5141945758)

The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) was a hospital for children in Herston,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. RCH was located next to the

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) is a tertiary public hospital located in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is operated by Metro North Health, part of the Queensland Health network. The hospital has 929 bed ...

before it was demolished and the land was used to build the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS).

History

Nursing staff at Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital gather for afternoon tea, Brisbane, ca

Mary McConnel, a mother of six and grandmother, grew concerned at the lack of primary care for children in Brisbane. Inspired by the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in her home town of Edinburgh and London's

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

, she endeavoured over fifteen years to raise money to found a children's hospital in the Brisbane. In 1878, the Hospital for Sick Children opened in rented premises in Spring Hill. McConnel hired a nurse and matron from England to run the hospital, while local women were trained. The hospital quickly outgrew its 15-bed premises, and was moved to a larger building in Herston on land provided by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

. The hospital's name was changed to Brisbane Children's Hospital in 1943. Its name was changed again in 1967 to Royal Children's Hospital. In 2009, a decision was made to merge the Royal Children's Hospital with Mater Children's Hospital in

Stanley Street Stanley Street may refer to: Streets: *Stanley Street, Brisbane *Stanley Street, East Sydney *Stanley Street, Hong Kong *Stanley Street, Liverpool * Stanley Street (Montreal) * Stanley Street, Singapore In fiction: *Stanley Street, the prime setti ...

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 7,196 people. Geography The suburb is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the north-west, ...

to create a single children's hospital in Brisbane. The decision was very controversial with many people opposed to the merger, while others supported the merge but argued over location of the new hospital (some favouring the Herston site and other favouring the South Brisbane site). The Queensland Children's Hospital opened on 29 November 2014, adjacent to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, in South Brisbane, with the Royal Children's Hospital and the Mater Children's Hospital closing immediately as their patients were transferred to the Queensland Children's Hospital. In November 2016, the

Queensland State Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

announced the creation of the

Herston Quarter Herston is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Herston had a population of 2,215 people. Geography Herston is located by car north of the Brisbane GPO. The area of Herston includes the Herston Health Prec ...

Priority Development Area to restore and redevelop the hospital site. The hospital was demolished in 2017.

Notable personnel

Phyllis Cilento Phyllis Dorothy Cilento, Lady Cilento (née McGlew; 13 March 189426 July 1987) was an Australian medical practitioner, prominent medical journalist, and pioneering advocate of family planning in Queensland. In August 2018, about 900 staff at ...

, women and children's health advocate * Michael Gabbett,

clinical geneticist Medical genetics is the branch tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...

and academic *

Claire Wainwright Claire E. Wainwright is a paediatric respiratory physician and professor of pediatrics, residing and working in Queensland. She commenced her medical training in London and completed her specialist training at the Royal Children's Hospital, ...

, a lead of the Cystic Fibrosis Service and a Senior Lecturer

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Royal Children's Hospital, Herston Hospitals in Brisbane Herston, Queensland Children's hospitals in Australia Hospitals established in 1878 1878 establishments in Australia