AGY-6791 | Mater Misericordiae Hospital

Full description

The Mater Misericordiae Hospital was officially opened on 21 January 1906. (1) It was established by the Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy who purchased the property in Willoughby Road (Crows Nest) previously occupied by the North Shore Cottage Hospital. (2) Originally intended for the care of sick children, the hospital soon began admitting women. (3)

In its first annual report, presented on 24 February 1907, it was recorded that the number of cots and beds was 36 and that, up until 31 January, 209 in-patients had been treated. As the daily average had been 15 patients, the hospital qualified to be accepted as a training school for nurses under the rules of the Australian Trained Nurses' Association. (4)

Although the hospital was non-sectarian in its ministrations, for many years it received no State subsidy and subsisted on voluntary charitable contributions. (5) This situation was regularly protested at annual meetings until a modest bed subsidy was accepted by the Sisters in 1913. (6)

In 1911, (7) the Sisters acquired a property, 'Wenona', in Lane Cove Road, North Sydney which, following alterations, opened as a private hospital in May the following year. (8) In 1912, this institution was registered under the Private Hospitals Act 1908 (9), appearing in the Register of Licensed Private Hospitals as 'Mater Misericordiae'. The register records the licence as first issued on 11 June 1912. The class of hospital was medical and surgical with the maximum number of patients 29. (10)

At the time of the opening of the private hospital it was reported that its profits would be used to build a new general hospital on adjacent land to replace the old facility in Willoughby Road. (11) The new general hospital, which now admitted men as well as women and children, was officially opened in April 1915 (12) providing 70 beds, including a new 24-bed male ward. (13) In May 1926 a new wing was opened, providing for an additional 100 beds. (14)

In 1929 the hospital was listed as 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital (North Sydney)' in the Third Schedule of the Public Hospitals Act 1929, as assented to on 28 March 1929. (15) The Act was proclaimed to commence on 1 November 1929. (16) Third Schedule Hospitals were administered by charitable institutions or religious bodies that appointed their own governing bodies and received subsidies from the Government. (17)

In its first Annual Report following its establishment by the Public Hospitals Act 1929, the Hospitals Commission of NSW, in developing a scheme of classification to 'fit the conditions prevailing in the State', classified the Mater Misericordiae Hospital as a Grade B metropolitan Acute hospital in the 'General' category. Grade B General hospitals were defined as those which conformed to the general specifications of Grade 'A' institutions - that is, a daily average of over 150 occupied beds with a range of medical and surgical services - but which did not provide any or all of a school for clinical instruction, a research laboratory or obstetrics or paediatrics. (18) For the year ending 30 June 1930, the Commission reported that the Mater had 201 beds, had treated 1465 in-patients and had 17,017 out-patient attendances. (19)

In 1940, a major development was the building of a 50-bed maternity block on a site facing the general hospital. The new unit was officially opened on 22 September 1940. (20) By 30 June 1941, 585 babies had been born in this facility. (21)

In March 1929, the Mater was listed in the General Hospitals category as a training school recognised by the Nurses' Registration Board of New South Wales. (22) In the 1942 list, the 'Mater Maternity Hospital' was recognised as a Midwifery Hospital (23). In September 1978, the Mater was also approved as a training school for nursing aides. (24)

The Mater Hospital was associated with the University of Sydney with respect to undergraduate medical student teaching from 1966 when the hospital agreed to accept the attendance of four students between September 1966 and February 1967. (25) In August 1968, the hospital was formally recognised as an affiliated Teaching Hospital of the university (26) subject to an arrangement whereby the Mater would not establish its own separate clinical school but rather work through the existing school and University Board of Studies operating at the Royal North Shore Hospital. Teaching under this arrangement commenced in 1969. (27)

In 1982, the NSW Government commenced a program to redistribute metropolitan health services to meet population growth in Sydney's western suburbs. The public section of the Mater Misericordiae was one of two hospitals scheduled to be closed under this program. The process commenced on 1 August 1982 with the closure of 50 general medical and surgical beds at the hospital. (28) In total, 210 beds were closed at the Mater. (29)

Although it closed during 1982-83, the 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital (North Sydney)' was not removed from the Third Schedule of the Public Hospitals Act 1929 until March 1991. (30)

Despite the demise of the public facility, the private hospital continued to operate as a 120-bed acute-care hospital. (31) It was re-built, with the first patients admitted to the new facility in January 1991. (32)

Endnotes
1. 'Sir Henry Parkes. Tribute by Cardinal Moran' in Evening News, 22 January 1906, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114222816 (accessed 27 April 2016).
2. I. R. Vanderfield, 'The Royal North Shore Hospital' in Young J, Sefton A and Webb N, Centenary Book of the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. 1984 Sydney University Press, Sydney, p.450.
3. 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital' (report of first annual meeting) in Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 1907, p.5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14861025 (accessed 27 April 2016).
4. Loc. cit.
5. 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital. North Sydney - A Successful Institution' in The Catholic Press, 25 October 1906, p.17 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106291722 (accessed 27 April 2016).
6. 'The Mater Misericordiae Hospital' in Freeman's Journal, 26 March 1914, p.18 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111289685 (accessed 28 April 2016).
7. Report of annual meeting and report for 1911 in The Catholic Press, 18 January 1912, p.16. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105176303 (accessed 28 April 2016).
8. 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital' in Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1912, p.12 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15333262 (accessed 28 April 2016).
9. Private Hospitals Act 1908 (Act No.14, 1908), s.6(1).
10. NSW Board of Health, Register of Licensed Private Hospitals, 15 February 1910-13 January 1913, NRS 606 (5/5857, p.638).
11. 'Mater Misericordiae - Private Hospital Opened' in Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 1912, p.12 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15334201 (accessed 28 April 2016).
12. 'North Sydney's new Mater Misericordiae Public Hospital Opened by the State Governor' in The Catholic Press, 29 April 1915, pp.20-21 (accessed 28 April 2016).
13. 'The New Mater Misericordiae Hospital, North Sydney' in The Catholic Press, 22 April 1915, p.32 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105003548 (accessed 28 April 2016).
14. 'New Wing - Mater Misericordiae Hospital Opened by Lord Stonehaven' in Sydney Morning Herald, 31 May 1926, p.12 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16295541 (accessed 28 April 2016).
15. Public Hospitals Act 1929 (Act No.8, 1929), ss.3, 4, Third Schedule.
16. NSW Government Gazette No.182, 4 October 1929, p.4085.
17. NSW Government Directory, 1999, p.189.
18. Annual Report of the Hospitals Commission for the year ended 30 June 1930, pp.6-8 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1930-31-32 Vol.1, p.629.
19. Annual Reports of the Hospitals Commission of New South Wales for the years ended 30th June 1932 and 30th June 1933, p.23 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1934-35 Vol.1, p.545.
20. 'The Mater Hospital Opens Elaborate Maternity Block' in The Catholic Press, 26 September 1940, p.10 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106421148 (accessed 28 April 2016).
21. Annual Report of the Hospitals Commission of New South Wales for the year ended 30th June 1941, p.6 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1941-42 Vol.1, p.359.
22. List of Hospitals Recognised as Training Schools by the Nurses' Registration Board of New South Wales, 15 March 1929. NSW Government Gazette No.40, 22 March 1929, p.1365.
23. List of Hospitals Recognised as Training Schools by the Nurses' Registration Board of New South Wales, 10 February 1942. NSW Government Gazette No.30, 27 February 1942, p.806.
24. NSW Government Gazette No.109, 8 September 1978, p.3829.
25. J. B. Westphalen, 'Mater Misericordiae Hospital' in Young, Sefton and Webb, op. cit., p.457.
26. Report of the Senate of the University of Sydney for the year ended 31st December 1968, p.66 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1969-70-71 Vol.3, p.1061.
27. J. B. Westphalen, op. cit., p.458.
28. Department of Health Annual Report 1982-83, pp.10-11 in in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1983-84 Vol.5, No.63.
29. Ibid, p.12.
30. NSW Government Gazette No.48, 22 March 1991, p.2266.
31. H. M. Carey, In the Best of Hands, a history of the Mater Misericordiae Public Hospital and the Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital North Sydney 1906-1991, 1991 Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, p.95.
32. Ibid., p.99.