World War 1, Australia, Western Australia, Fremantle, 8 Australian General Hospital, VAD, 1918
1918Informal group portrait of 8 Australian General Hospital Voluntary Aid Detachments
On site of the current Fremantle Hospital Day Admissions Centre, Pensioner’s Barracks were built during the Convict Establishment era of the 1850s. In 1886, the old Barracks was used by the Immigration Department, and in 1901/02, became an Old Men’s Home. By 1912, it was again an Immigrant’s Home after the old men were transferred to Dalkeith.
During World War I, the old Barracks were used as a Base Hospital. The extensive work to convert the Barracks to hospital use was carried out by military engineers. Captain Fred Beale, Staff Officer, Royal Australian Engineers, in a letter to the editor pointed out that the only work that was carried out by the Public Works Department was the long range of sanitary buildings, which was to be carried, out as part of thescheme to connect the immigrants' home with the sewerage system, and did not form part of the alterations to convert the building for hospital purposes. After the war, it reverted to being an Immigrant’s Home. The old Barracks was demolished c. 1950.
No 8 General Hospital was established in Fremantle on 1 Jul 1915 to service those injured or ill during training in Australia, and to assess and treat those returned from the war with queries about their ongoing health. From January 1919 the 26th Australian Auxiliary Hospital was established on the same site to take responsibility for non-surgical cases. It contained 128 bed capacity. VD cases in WA were initially housed in the Blackboy Hill Camp Hospital before being moved to Rockingham on 19 Dec 1914, and then from 1 Jan 1919 to Karrakatta. Karrakatta also housed a Details Camp where convalescents remained until they were fit for discharge or to return to Europe. Infectious disease patients were sent to the Albany District Hospital.
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Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
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