Susan Schardt (15 January 1872 – 9 October 1934) was an Australian philanthropist who founded an organization to provide care for poverty stricken people with incurable conditions who had been discharged from hospital. Canvassing the state to raise funds, she founded the Commonwealth Home for Destitute Invalids in Ryde to offer services to a larger number of patients. The hospital, which has changed names numerous times, is still functioning as an occupational rehabilitation service provider and is now known as Royal Rehabilitation Hospital.

Early life

Susan Katherina Schardt was born on 15 January 1872 at

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

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, Australia to Hannah (née Harris) and Frederick Schardt. Her grandfather, was Count Adam von Schardt and her father, had left Germany in search of gold in 1860. By the time of her birth, as the couple's second child, her father was engaged in farming. She and her younger brother, Charles, were born blind and together they attended the New South Wales Deaf Dumb and Blind Institution in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

between 1880 and 1887.

Career

A devout Methodist, during the 1890s and the Long Depression, Schardt visited patients at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and performed charitable works. She developed concern for people with incurable diseases or those who could not pay for care who were discharged with no help for their

convalescence Convalescence is the gradual recovery of health and strength after illness or injury. It refers to the later stage of an infectious disease or illness when the patient recovers and returns to previous health, but may continue to be a source of ...

. When a destitute man, with a paralysis was discharged, she arranged housing and care for him and collected donations to provide on-going care from friends. Eventually a committee was formed and she began making arrangements for other patients in similar situations. In 1900, the group rented a house in Redfern which provided care for sixteen patients with their caregivers. They called the facility the Commonwealth Home for Destitute Invalids, which later was known as the New South Wales Home for Incurables. Local notables, like Sir George Reid and Sir

Thomas Anderson Stuart Sir Thomas Peter Anderson Stuart (20 June 1856 – 29 February 1920) was a Scottish-born professor of physiology, founder of the medical school at the University of Sydney.J. Atherton Young,Stuart, Sir Thomas Peter Anderson (1856 - 1920), Aus ...

joined the committee board in 1902 and it continued to grow until 1906 when the building was condemned. At that time, they were responsible for having assisted fifty patients. A public meeting was held and Sir Henry Moses offered his estate Weemala, near

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

to the committee at half the auctioneer's value. Generous donations were made from philanthropists and Schardt and her companion Beatrice Ricketts traveled by railway, speaking to interested groups to raise money. Sufficient funds were secured and the new Home for Incurables was opened on 10 April 1907, able to accommodate sixty-five patients. Schardt's speaking engagements were authorized by the Minister of Public Instruction and until 1931, she regularly spoke to schools and at public meetings. She raised over £35,000 for the hospital and a similar facility for cancer patients.

Death and legacy

Schardt died at the institution she had founded in Ryde on 9 October 1934. Her funeral, held at

St Philip's Church ''Riceyman Steps'' is a novel by British novelist Arnold Bennett, first published in 1923 and winner of that year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. It follows a year in the life of Henry Earlforward, a miserly second-hand bookshop ow ...

, was widely attended. After the service, her remains were buried in the family plot in Waverley cemetery. The facility she founded, later known as the Royal Rehabilitation Hospital, is still functioning as an occupational rehabilitation hospital in Ryde.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Royal Rehabilitation Hospital
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schardt, Susan 1872 births 1934 deaths People from Queanbeyan Australian blind people Australian Methodists Australian disability rights activists Australian people of German descent Australian women philanthropists Australian philanthropists 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women