| Historical notes: | Aboriginal Historical Context
The greater Sydney region has been inhabited by Aboriginal people for at least 20,000 years with dated sheltered occupation sites occurring in the Blue Mountains and its foothills. Aboriginal occupation of coastal NSW has also been dated to extend back to at least 20,000 years before present at Burrill Lake on the South Coast and 17,000 years before present at Bass Point. At the time of these periods of occupation, both sites would have been located within hinterland areas situated some distance away from the coast. In the case of Burrill Lake, the sea would have been up to 16km further east than at present and the site would have been located within an inland environment drained by rivers, creeks and streams.
There are no other Pleistocene sites recorded on the Sydney Coast. There are however two sites that have been dated to the early Holocene around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. These are located at the current Prince of Wales Hospital site (a hearth dated to 7,800 years ago) and a rock shelter site at Curracurrang. It is likely that many coastal Aboriginal sites of a similar age within the Sydney region have been submerged and/or destroyed by sea-level changes which have occurred in eastern Australia during the last 20,000 years. In general terms, the majority of sites recorded within the Sydney Basin investigated to the present are dated to within the last 2,500 years that in most cases demonstrate Aboriginal exploitation of marine resources at the current sea levels.
Available evidence indicates that Aboriginal occupation of the Sydney region was initially sporadic, and that population numbers were fairly low during the earliest periods. From around 5,000 years ago an increasing and continued use of many sites investigated through archaeology appears to have ensued. Evidence for the Aboriginal use and occupation of the Sydney region from this period is therefore far more 'archaeologically visible' than for previous periods.
In the South Sydney region at least three archaeological sites have produced dates of Aboriginal occupation that range from between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. From about 3,000 years ago to Contact the number of occupied sites appears to have increased dramatically. This may reflect a 'real' increase in the number of sites (and hence people) in the region, or may reflect preservation factors (particularly associated with shell midden deposits) where older sites have been destroyed by thousands of years of erosion, and accelerated by development in the post-Contact period.
Over the 20,000 years of Aboriginal occupation in the region, and in particular the last 5,000 to 8,000 years, numerous changes in excavated stone tool assemblages have been observed. Various temporal markers have been established by archaeologist in an attempt to distinguish what are considered to be the more significant changes in tool types and tool kit composition. The assumption being that changes in one (or more) components of the excavated material culture may reflect changes in other aspects of past Aboriginal social, economic and technological practices.
These arguments are based upon changes in stone tool assemblages and observable changes in the use of certain types of stone used in Aboriginal tool manufacture. Excavation of a number of rock-shelter occupation sites in particular indicates that the earlier phases of occupation are largely characterised by the presence of large cores and scraper tools. This appears to be followed by the addition of a variety of smaller backed implements (known variously as backed blades, geometric microliths or Bondi Points) to the toolkit previously dominated by larger tools at around 5,000 years ago. By around 1,500 years ago the smaller backed forms appear (on available evidence) to have gone out of use and excavated site assemblages are characterised by quartz bi-polar artefacts and more opportunistic or undifferentiated small tools. It is reasonable to assume that the many artefacts made by Aboriginal people from shell, bone or wood as observed at Contact were also used in the past but these materials have not survived in the archaeological record.
Research indicates that coastal sites in the Sydney region have been largely ignored by archaeologists until relatively recently. Prior to work completed over the last two decades, the majority of Aboriginal archaeological sites investigated were located south of Sydney and the Georges River. Previous focus of investigations was frequently on the stone artefacts made by Aboriginal people in the past, the sequence of changes in their form and composition, and upon comparisons between coastal and inland sites that sought to understand how people used the landscape as a means to characterise Aboriginal life on the eastern coast of NSW prior to Contact. More recent archaeological studies have focused upon the way Aboriginal people adapted to the coastal environment and the immediate hinterland, and how other aspects of the archaeological record (such as food, art, site complexity and composition, and site distribution data) can contribute to our understanding of prehistoric Aboriginal life.
Colonial History:
One of the earliest land grants in this area was made in 1824 to Captain Francis Marsh, who received 12 acres bounded by the present Botany & High Streets, Alison & Belmore Roads. In 1839 William Newcombe acquired the land north-west of the present town hall in Avoca Street.
Randwick takes its name from the town of Randwick, Gloucestershire, England. The name was suggested by Simeon Pearce (1821-86) and his brother James. Simeon was born in the English Randwick and the brothers were responsible for the early development of both Randwick and its neighbour, Coogee. Simeon had come to the colony in 1841as a 21 year old surveyor. He built his Blenheim House on the 4 acres he bought from Marsh, and called his property "Randwick". The brothers bought and sold land profitably in the area and elsewhere. Simeon campaigned for construction of a road from the city to Coogee (achieved in 1853) and promoted the incorporation of the suburb. Pearce sought construction of a church modelled on the church of St. John in his birthplace. In 1857 the first St Jude's stood on the site of the present post office, at the corner of the present Alison Road and Avoca Street (Pollen, 1988, 217-8).
Randwick was...slow to progress. The village was isolated from Sydney by swamps and sandhills, and although a horse-bus was operated by a man named Grice from the late 1850s, the journey was more a test of nerves than a pleasure jaunt. Wind blew sand over the track, and the bus sometimes became bogged, so that passengers had to get out and push it free. From its early days Randwick had a divided society. The wealthy lived elegantly in large houses built when Pearce promoted Randwick and Coogee as a fashionable area. But the market gardens, orchards and piggeries that continued alongside the large estates were the lot of the working class. Even on the later estates that became racing empires, many jockeys and stablehands lived in huts or even under canvas. An even poorer group were the immigrants who existed on the periphery of Randwick in a place called Irishtown, in the area now known as The Spot, around the junction of St.Paul's Street and Perouse Road. Here families lived in makeshift houses, taking on the most menial tasks in their struggle to survive.
In 1858 when the NSW Government passed the Municipalities Act, enabling formation of municipal districts empowered to collect rates and borrow money to improve their suburb, Randwick was the first suburb to apply for the status of a municipality. It was approved in Februrary 1859, and its first Council was elected in March 1859.
Randwick had been the venue for sporting events, as well as duels and illegal sports, from the early days in the colony's history. Its first racecourse, the Sandy Racecourse or Old Sand Track, had been a hazardous track over hills and gullies since 1860. When a move was made in 1863 by John Tait, to establish Randwick Racecourse, Simeon Pearce was furious, expecially when he heard that Tait also intended to move into Byron Lodge. Tait's venture prospered, however and he became the first person in Australia to organise racing as a commercial sport. The racecourse made a big difference to the progress of Randwick. The horse-bus gave way to trams that linked the suburb to Sydney and civilisation. Randwick soon became a prosperous and lively place, and it still retains a busy residential, professional and commercial life.
Today, some of the houses have been replaced by home units. Many European migrants have made their homes in the areaa, along with students and workers at the nearby University of NSW and the Prince of Wales Hospital. (ibid, 218-9).
The Choice of a Site for the Coast Hospital
The Prince Henry Hospital and former Coast Hospital at Little Bay represent an important phase in the provision of public health in New South Wales and Australia. Established by the Board of Health in 1881, in response to an outbreak of smallpox, the hospital was the first government-controlled public hospital in the post-convict era. The Board of Health, forerunner to the Department of Health, was created initially to deal with the smallpox outbreak of 1881. The Board of Health and New South Wales government's involvement in the early administration at the hospital empowered both organisations in their dealings with other New South Wales private hospitals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It also laid the foundations for the administrative policies in regard to hospitals that became standard within the system.
The location of the Coast Hospital was a reflection of the prevailing beliefs with regard to the treatment of infectious disease and in health care generally. Fear of infectious diseases in the nineteenth century meant that those diagnosed or suspected of having infection were geographically isolated and removed from the general population. At the same time, fresh ocean air was considered highly beneficial in the treatment of disease. The Coast Hospital was built with both these ideals in mind. Not only was the original hospital well removed from the populated areas in Sydney, but within the grounds of the institution, the patients were duly separated depending on their ailment. The main section was located on the southern headland of Little Bay where maximum exposure to the elements was assured.
The isolated nature of the Coast Hospital also led to the establishment of the first complete ambulance service in New South Wales and a forerunner of permanent ambulance services throughout the entire country.
The Coast Hospital cemetery was the second burial place for the hospital, between 1897 and 1952. It was not within the grounds itself, but away to the south in an isolated position to minimise the spread of disease. The cemetery has ongoing significance for the Aboriginal community as the Dharawal Resting Place, where ancestral remains of the La Perouse Aboriginal people, returned from both Australian and international museums, can be returned to country and buried. The first reburial took place in June 2002. The cemetery is now within Botany Bay National Park and pressed by golf courses (Murray, 2016, 45-7).
Prince Henry Hospital
As the isolation of the hospital was gradually reduced, through the encroachment of Sydney's suburbs and improvement in transport facilities, the demand for the services of the hospital grew. The first years of the twentieth century reflected this change as a major building program was initiated at the hospital.
The proposal for the construction of up to 20 new wards between 1914 and 1920 reflected a growing community belief that the provision of public health was a universal right to those in the community - a view held by the then New South Wales government and the Minister for Health, Fred Flowers. The new wards built on the slope to the west, away from the original coast section, were named the Flowers Hospital after the minister.
The overall redevelopment, wards, theatres and auxiliary rooms meant that by 1929 the hospital was the largest in NSW. In 1934 the hospital was renamed the Prince Henry Hospital in honour of the recently visited Duke of Gloucester.
The establishment of the hospital originally as an infectious disease hospital allowed it to develop an expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases that stayed with the facility throughout its operation. Its almost continual use as an infectious disease hospital since its opening provides valuable evidence of the community's attitude, and an official attitude, to the treatment of infectious diseases.
New techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of infection and research into disease were a specialist function of the hospital as a unit. The expertise of the staff who were stationed at the hospital in diagnosis and treatment made them highly valued at other institutions around the country and gained the hospital a worldwide reputation. The training of nurses at the hospital had been standard practice since 1894, while from 1937 all nurses were required to spend two months training in the Nurses Preliminary Training School before entering the wards.
During the same period (1936) the hospital was chosen by the New South Wales Postgraduate Committee as an official postgraduate teaching hospital. A postgraduate medical school was opened in 1938, although it only operated until 1943, and was finally abandoned due to wartime restrictions on staff and services. In 1960, the hospital became the first teaching hospital for the newly created University of NSW, continuing a proud history of educating medical staff.
The hospital's expertise and specialisation extended beyond the infectious disease wards and the training facilities. Specialist services were offered to treat soldiers during the early years of the Second World War, including the first of the American troops to land in Sydney (before the American military established their own hospitals). In 1946 a special police ward was created to treat those members of the police force who needed treatment; while on the other side of the law, one ward in the Delaney House was converted and secured to treat prisoners from Long Bay Gaol. (The link between the hospital and Long Bay Gaol also included the excellent bread baked and delivered daily to Prince Henry Hospital).
People at Prince Henry Hospital
Part of the hospital's reputation has come from its association with prominent medical professionals and administrators who have worked there over the years. Some have been remembered in the naming of buildings on site after them, including Matron E McNevin, Matron CM Dickson, FW Marks, RJ Heffron and JE Delaney. Both Matron McNevin and Matron Dickson were honoured through the naming of the two main nurses' homes after them.
Matron Clarice Dickson had served at the Coast Hospital since 1909 when she joined the nursing staff. She went to France during World War I to serve for the Red Cross and was awarded a medal for courageous dedication to duty under fire. She returned to the Coast Hospital in 1920 as Sub-Matron, but transferred to Newington State Hospital in 1926 for six months before returning to the Coast Hospital as Sub-Matron in 1927. She became Matron of Prince Henry Hospital in 1936 and retired in 1937. The new nurses' home was named after her on her retirement.
Matron Dickson was followed by Ethel McNevin as Matron of Prince Henry Hospital. Matron McNevin had arrived at the Coast Hospital in 1915 as a trainee, and served at the hospital until 1926 when she resigned to become Matron of Coonamble District Hospital. In 1928 she was appointed Matron of the Perth Hospital in Western Australia. She returned to Prince Henry Hospital in 1937 as Matron, a position in which she served until her retirement in September 1955. During her time as Matron, McNevin introduced the Nurses Preliminary Training School in which new nurses would spend two months learning the basics of the profession before transferring to the wards. The school became an integral part of the nursing experience at Prince Henry Hospital. Following her retirement, Matron McNevin returned to Prince Henry Hospital as the librarian in the Medical Library and lived in a small flat in the Matron Dickson Nurses Home. She died at the hospital in July 1960.
Both Heffron and Marks had served on the Board of Directors for the hospital as directors. Mr RJ Heffron, MLA, was appointed to the Board in 1942 and was Chairman of the Board between September 1950 and November 1959. He served as the local member for Botany from 1930 and as NSW Premier between 1959 and 1964. The new Ward Block A was named after him in 1961 in recognition of his seventeen years of service on the Hospital Board. FW Marks was Chairman of the Board between 1936 until his death in 1942. The contribution of the Marks family was recognised by the naming of the new infectious diseases ward the FW Marks Pavilion. Other members of staff left lasting impressions on the hospital through their devotion to the patients and staff while they were in residence.
Dr CJM 'Cec' Walters, who served as the Medical Superintendent of Prince Henry Hospital from October 1936 until December 1959, is fondly remembered by many ex-staff for his loyalty to the hospital and devotion to duty. Dr Walters started his career as a veterinary surgeon in 1913, before enlisting in 1914 and serving in mobile veterinary hospitals in France, including in command positions. On his return to Australia he was appointed in charge of the Veterinary Clinic at Sydney University. In 1923 he graduated from the School of Medicine and came to work at the Coast Hospital in 1924 where he remained, except for a brief period as a Macquarie Street specialist, until 1959. Throughout this time he continued to practice as a veterinary surgeon, working from time to time on the thoroughbreds in Vic Field's stable at Randwick Racecourse.
John E Delaney became Chief Executive Officer in 1973, succeeding JR Clancy - a brother of the former Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Clancy. Delaney is remembered as a fine administrator who fought for a dual carriageway along Anzac Parade to the Prince Henry site.
The work of Dr Neville Stanley is remembered in association with the Pathology Building, which was named after benefactors Hugh and Catherine McIlrath. His virus research team achieved national prominence in Australia, in relation to research into viral meningitis and the polio virus.
The Closure of Prince Henry Hospital
The closure of the Prince Henry Hospital was announced in September 1988. The facilities were to be slowly relocated to the Prince of Wales Hospital, forming a 'super hospital' on the proceeds of the sale of Prince Henry Hospital. However, prior to the official announcement, since the early 1970s, the services offered by Prince Henry had been slowly withdrawn. From 1984 the future of the hospital was being continually reassessed. A lack of funds for capital works and the uncertainty over its future resulted in many of the buildings becoming run-down across the site. Following the official announcement of its closure, services continued to be downgraded, wards closed and staff relocated. There are few working precincts remaining on the Prince Henry site as of May 2002.
The Prince Henry Hospital grew to provide a range of medical services on the site. The hospital became a major teaching hospital, operating at its peak in the mid 1980s. Since that time, as a result of state government policy, which focused on the consolidation of health services at other hospitals, the Prince Henry Hospital has been progressively closed. In 1999 the Minister for Health announced the transfer of the remaining hospital services to the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick. The redevelopment of the Prince Henry site was also announced, to provide private housing, aged care housing and selected medical services. This redevelopment was to include the restoration of heritage buildings on the site.
A two-staged approach to the preparation of a Conservation Management Plan was agreed with the then NSW Heritage Office and Randwick City Council to guide the Prince Henry site Masterplan. A Stage 2 Conservation Management Plan, dated May 2002 (amended February 2003) including Archaeological Management Plan, dated August 2002 was endorsed by the Heritage Council on 27 June 2003.
The Prince Henry Masterplan was approved by the Heritage Council Approvals Committee in December 2001. In September 2002, the Heritage Council recommended to the Minister that the site be listed on the State Heritage Register. The site was listed on 2 May 2003.
The revised Masterplan was approved by the Heritage Council in May 2003. Heritage Council general terms of approval were issued for a Stage 1 infrastructure IDA in 2003. Heritage Council general terms of approval were issued in March 2004 for DA7 for amalgamation of parts of Anzac Parade with the site and community title subdivision of site to create 27 allotments. An integrated development application 1103/2003, DA7 for the land management regime for Prince Henry Hospital site was established as a 'Community Scheme' for the entire site. Site Masterplan amendments were approved on 6 October 2005. |
