OLD HOSPITAL, CORNER OF HENRY AND DUKE STREETS, TOODYAY

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c. 1978

Subcollections

Overview

A 'faded' coloured photo of the Old Hospital in Henry Street, Toodyay, before conversion into a private residence.
It is a large brick two- level building that faces onto Henry Street. Three brick chimneys are evident on a corrugated iron roof. The higher level of the main section is an enclosed verandah below which on the ground level are 2 casement windows.
The front garden has green lawn, smallish tress and to the centre of photo a pencil pine behind which is a trunk of a taller tree.
In the foreground is a low brick edge/fence.

Historical information

The construction of the new hospital at Newcastle (now Toodyay) on sloping land delayed its opening for two years.
Extra foundations and other modifications had to be carried out before the building was judged suitable for use in 1895. It had two wards with eight and three beds. Only seven years later, the Government closed the hospital due to running costs.
After community pressure the Newcastle Hospital re-opened in 1904. A ward of three beds was set up for the care of emergency cases. In 1910 the Newcastle Municipal Council took over running the hospital and a Hospital Committee was formed.
Matrons were employed by the Committee to manage the hospital's activities. Expenses continued to be more than the amount received from patients and in spite of ongoing fundraising efforts by the community, the Public Health Department finally closed the Toodyay Hospital in 1940.
In 1979 the building was restored as a family home. In 1980, the Toodyay Chiropractic Clinic opened in the former nurses’ home of the hospital.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-37-2001.1654

Item type

Photographs

Width

99 mm

Height or length

127 mm

Themes

Medicine & Health

Keywords