St Margaret's Hospital, Sydney
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St Margaret's Hospital was a
maternity hospital A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most ...
in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It opened in 1894 and closed in 1998.


History

The hospital was founded by
Gertrude Abbott Gertrude Abbott (also known as Mother Abbott; 11 July 1846 – 12 May 1934) was the founder of the former St. Margaret's Hospital (Sydney, Australia), St Margaret's Hospital in Sydney, Australia. It was a major maternity hospital in that city f ...
(1836-1934), the foundress of an unofficial religious community, reportedly out of the experience of a poor, pregnant girl being brought to her in 1893 by a local policeman. The following year she opened the hospital, initially located on Elizabeth Street in
Strawberry Hills Strawberry Hills is an official Urban Place in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Strawberry Hills is located east of Central railway station, within the suburbs of Surry Hills and Redfern which are part of the local government area of the Ci ...
, as the St Margaret's Maternity Home. It was founded "to provide shelter and care for unmarried girls of the comparatively respectable class". From March to December 1894 Abbott admitted 9 married and 23 unmarried patients. In 1895 the hospital had 3 nurses trained as
midwives A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their ...
, with 8 in training. In 1904, the hospital offered general
gynecological Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...
services, and started an out-patients department, also with home visits by its staff. In 1910 the hospital moved to its final location at 435 Bourke Street,
Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...
, in a large
art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
building. Despite its religious name, Abbott established the hospital as nonsectarian, and was never under the authority of the Catholic Church. With the assistance of the members of her small community, she administered the hospital until 1924. At the time of her death at the hospital in 1934, St Margaret's was the third largest maternity hospital in Sydney. It treated 760 mothers that year, without any maternal deaths. In 1937, at her request, the hospital was taken over by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, to which Abbott had briefly belonged.M. Press, ''Sunrise to Sunrise: The History of St Margaret's Hospital, Darlinghurst 1894-1994'', Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1994. From 1961 to 1988, the hospital was a teaching hospital in obstetrics and gynecology with the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. From 1988 until its closure in 1998 it was affiliated with the
University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
.


Current status

The site of St Margaret's underwent a redevelopment into high density housing in 2004. Prior to the work commencing there were local community concerns regarding the scale of the development, a lack of community and the provision of open space. The redevelopment was managed by SJB Architects. Today the St Margaret's site includes 216 apartments across four blocks placed around a public square. There are several outdoor cafes, a supermarket, general retail and an underground carpark.
Object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an a ...
Gallery occupies the original circular chapel designed and built by Ken Woolley in 1958.


See also

* List of Art Deco buildings in Sydney


References


External sources


History of the University of Sydney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Margarets Hospital, Sydney Defunct hospitals in Sydney Hospital buildings completed in 1910 Hospitals established in 1894 Defunct hospitals in Australia Hospitals disestablished in 1988 Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart Art Deco architecture in Sydney 1894 establishments in Australia 1988 disestablishments in Australia