Rachel Forster Hospital

The Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children opened on 3 January 1922[1][2] in Redfern (an inner suburb of Sydney, Australia) as the 'New Hospital'.[3] In 1925 the hospital was renamed after Baroness Rachel Forster, the wife of the then Governor-General of Australia, Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster.[1] Initial goals were to serve as a training hospital for female doctors and to serve women and children.[4] In 1927, Elsie Dalyell and Marie Montgomerie Hamilton started a clinic for venereal diseases at the hospital.[5] It later grew to include other specialised clinics and a breast cancer research centre.[6]

Rachel Forster Hospital
In 1941
Geography
LocationRedfern, Sydney, Australia
Coordinates33.894906°S 151.202670°E / -33.894906; 151.202670
History
Former name(s)New Hospital
Opened3 January 1922
Closedmid-2002
Links
ListsHospitals in Australia

The hospital started admitting men in 1967.[7]

The hospital faced closure in the mid 1990s[8] and services were transferred to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital by mid 2002.[9]

In 2013, City of Sydney councillor Irene Doutney raised strong concerns about the proposed redevelopment of the site, suggesting that most of the hospital would be demolished apart from the eastern facade and the colonnades at the front entrance. She suggested that the hospital had been left to "demolition by neglect", and that in the new development "They’re going to keep the minimum amount of heritage possible then bang a new building down. It's not adaptive re-use at all, it's demolition."[10]

In December 2014, The Daily Telegraph ran a photo piece documenting the deteriorating and vandalised state of the hospital despite its former significance, and referring to Doutney's 2013 concerns about the site falling victim to "demolition by neglect."[6]

References
  1. Mitchell, Ann M. (1983). "'Gullett, Lucy Edith (1876–1949)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  2. "NEW HOSPITAL". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 January 1922. p. 9. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  3. Bergmann, Lis (2013). "Early Women Students and Graduates, Faculty of Medicine". Sydney University. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014.
  4. Puckey, Mary C. (July 1950). "Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children" (PDF). Journal of the American Medical Women's Association. 5 (7). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  5. Stell, Marion K., "Marie Montgomerie Hamilton (1891–1955)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 23 October 2023
  6. "Ghost Sydney: Rachel Forster Hospital in Redfern abandoned in 2000 but still home to past". Daily Telegraph. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  7. "ALL-WOMEN HOSPITAL NOW OPEN FOR MEN". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 16 August 1967. p. 31. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  8. Forsythe, Patricia (26 June 1996). "Rachel Forster Hospital Closure". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  9. Patty, Anna (23 May 2002). "Mountains air their fear of the C word". The Daily Telegraph. ProQuest 358795528.
  10. "Rachel Forster Hospital in Redfern to be redeveloped". Altmedia. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
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