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

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, 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 Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeaste ...

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

History

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, 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 for Children NHS F ...

, she endeavoured over fifteen years to raise money to found a children's hospital in the Brisbane. On 11 March 1878, the Hospital for Sick Children opened in rented premises in Leichhardt Street Spring Hill, on the site of the present St Paul's Presbyterian Church. 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 state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

. The hospital's name was changed from the Hospital for Sick Children to the Brisbane Children's Hospital on 21 October 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,

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 14,292 people. Geography South Brisbane is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the nor ...

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 The public Queensland Children's Hospital (QCH), on Stanley Street in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the primary facility of Children's Health Queensland. QCH has an emergency department and intensive care unit, offering specialist ...

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 announced the creation of the

Herston Quarter Herston is an inner Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Herston had a population of 2,311 people. Geography Herston is located by car north of the Brisbane GPO. The area of Her ...

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

Notable personnel

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

clinical geneticist Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to me ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

* John Pearn, esteemed professor of paediatrics and former Surgeon General of the Australian Defense Force *

Stuart Pegg Stuart Phillip Pegg (born 1932) was an Australian burns specialist. He is credited with developing and providing life saving treatment for critically ill burns patients. Career After graduating Brisbane Grammar School in 1950, Pegg studied at t ...

, pioneering burns surgeon * Claire Wainwright, 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