Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane

The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) was a hospital for children in Herston, Brisbane, Australia. RCH was located next to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital before it was demolished and the land was used to build the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS).

Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane
Royal Children's Hospital, Herston, November 2014
Geography
LocationHerston, Brisbane, Queensland, Queensland, Australia
Coordinates27.449192°S 153.025475°E / -27.449192; 153.025475
Organisation
Care systemPublic
TypeSpecialist
Services
SpecialityPaediatrics
History
Opened1878
Closed2014
Demolished2017
Links
ListsHospitals in Australia
Not to be confused with Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne.
Tea time at the hospital, 1890-1900

History
Nursing staff, circa 1899

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, she endeavoured over fifteen years to raise money to found a children's hospital in the Brisbane.[1]

In 1878, the Hospital for Sick Children opened in rented premises in Spring Hill. 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.[1]

The hospital's name was changed to Brisbane Children's Hospital in 1943. Its name was changed again in 1967 to Royal Children's Hospital.[2]

In 2009, a decision was made to merge the Royal Children's Hospital with Mater Children's Hospital in Stanley Street, South Brisbane 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).[3]

The Queensland Children's Hospital 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.[4]

In November 2016, the Queensland State Government announced the creation of the Herston Quarter Priority Development Area[5] to restore and redevelop the hospital site.[6] The hospital was demolished in 2017.[7]

Notable personnel

References
  1. "Mary McConnel (1824 –1910)" (PDF). Great Queensland Women. Queensland Government. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  2. "Royal Children's Hospital (Brisbane, Qld.)". Trove. 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  3. "Bligh confirms merged children's hospitals will go ahead". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. Atfield, Cameron (30 November 2014). "Lady Cilento Hospital opens at South Brisbane". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  5. QLD State Government DILGP: Herston Quarter PDA
  6. QLD State Government Statement: Restoration and Redevelopment for historic Herston hospital site
  7. Metro North (2017). "Work begins on the $1.1 billion Herston Quarter Redevelopment". Queensland Health.
  8. Royal Children's Hospital Foundation (2006). Annual Report. Brisbane: Royal Children's Hospital Foundation.
  9. "Cystic Fibrosis Service". The State of Queensland (Children's Health Queensland). 18 October 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

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