Princess Alexandra Hospital

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History of Princess Alexandra Hospital

The Dispenser's House building, now converted to the Diamantina Health Care Museum.

The site of the current Princess Alexandra Hospital has a rich history of health care spanning over one hundred years.  The hospital now has an on-site museum, open to the public, which collects and documents key artefacts relating to the history of the hospital.

Key links and documents

• The Diamantina Health Care Museum  
  Information about the museum, its opening times and contact details.
  
  
• Aboriginal History
  A brief Aboriginal history of the current PAH site.
  
  
• Contessa Diamantina Roma
  An article about the wife of the first Governer of Queensland, who instigated the first orphanage on the PAH site.
  
  
• Florence Chatfield, OBE
  An article about the first matron of the Diamantina Hospital.
  
  
• Fredrick Staubwasser
  An article about the first dispenser/head wardsmen of the Diamantina Hospital.
  
  
• Oral Histories Project
  A number of key personalities from the history of PAH participated in an oral histories project.

 

A brief history of the PAH

1883	Diamantina Orphanage
1893-97	Residence for quieter patients from Goodna Asylum
1898	Reformatory for boys
1901	Diamantina Hospital for Chronic Disease established
1909	Dispenser's House built
1909	Two wards for epileptics opened
1910	One ward for one open-air tent for consumptives opened (known as huts and tents and later as pavilions)
1917	One ward for male cancer patients opened; capacity now 164 beds
1920	Electricity connected
1942	The hospital prepared as a mjor World War II casualty hospital
1943	South Brisbane Auxiliary Hospital
1947-48	Two brick blocks, S7 and S8, completed
1952	Foundations laid for the new acute hospital
1956	The new South Brisbane Hospital opened on August 26
1959	The hospital becomes independent from the Brisbane Hospital (later Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital)
1960	The hospital is officially re-named to Princess Alexandra Hospital following her visit in May
2001	Official opening of the new main hospital building
2001	Centenary of health care on the site
2006	Golden jubilee of the Princess Alexandra Hospital's opening in 1956.

 

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