AGY-6396 | Maitland Benevolent Asylum, later Maitland Hospital

Full description

The Maitland Benevolent Asylum was opened by the Maitland Benevolent Society for the reception of patients on 1 January 1843 in the former Immigrants Home at East Maitland. The Asylum was funded by subscription and run by a sub-committee. Its objects were 'to afford an asylum to the sick and destitute, and to disperse medicine gratis to the poor'.  The first sub-committee comprised Rev. G.K. Rusden, Rev. E. Mahony, Rev. W. Clarke, Dr. A. Liddle and Dr. P.W. Mallon. Free services were provided to the institution by the medical gentlemen of the district, Dr Liddle and Dr Mallon. (1)

Following floods in the Maitland area the Benevolent Asylum was removed on 5 October 1843 to West Maitland. (2) On 26 October 1844 Governor Sir George Gipps visited Maitland and inspected the Benevolent Asylum. (3) The Governor recommended to the Legislative Council the appropriation of £1000 for the erection of a public Hospital at Maitland with an equal amount to be raised by private subscriptions. (4) A further £200 was voted in the 1845 estimates for the aid of the Maitland Benevolent Asylum on the same condition in addition to sums derived from fines on drunkards. (5) On 9 October 1846 a further 200 was voted for the estimates for 1847. (6) 

On 26 January 1846 the foundation stone of the Maitland Benevolent Asylum was laid by Edward Denny Day, the police magistrate of the Maitland District, on behalf of Governor Gipps. (7)

The Maitland Hospital was first incorporated under the Hospitals Partial Incorporation Act of 1847 (Act 11 Vic. No.59) which received assent on 17 June 1847. The Act allowed the hospital to sue and be sued in the name of its Treasurer. (8) 

On 8 November 1849 the first hospital building on the site at Campbell's Hill was completed and handed over. (9)

On 18 December 1884 the foundation stone of the new Maitland Benevolent Asylum building in Regent-street, West Maitland, was laid by the Hon. Henry Emanuel. Cohen, member for West Maitland. The new building was to be free from the reach of floods. It was to be built in brick with two storeys and included a dormitory for 40 patients, a maternity ward, a dining room, a matron's room and other amenities. (10)

The Maitland Hospital was listed as a public hospital under the Second Schedule of the Public Hospitals Act, 1898 (Act No.16, 1898). (11)

Construction of the public wards (Ward Block 1) at the southern end of the site was completed in 1903-1905 and the Blood Bank buiding and isolation cottage were completed in 1916. Maitland Hospital was registered as a training hospital under the Nurses Registration Act, 1924 (Act No.37, 1924) in July 1926 and became a training school for general nurses. The Nurse's Quarters were completed in 1927 on what had previously been the site of the Royal Oak Hotel. (12)

From 1 November 1929 'The Maitland Hospital' was a hospital incorporated under Part IV of the Public Hospitals Act 1929 (Act No.8, 1929). (13) Under this Act The Maitland Hospital was to be governed by a Board of Directors which could make by-laws and its subscribers were a body corporate which could be sue and be sued in its corporate name. (14)

In the 1930s Ward Block 3 was built and extensions were completed to the nurses home in 1932 and 1937. The Addison Building (Ward Block 2) was progressively built and opened between 1942 and 1947. A new Nurses Home was completed in 1960 and a new pathology building was opened in 1973. From 1975 to 1979 a new boilerhouse and workshops were built and the kitchen, cafeteria and storage areas were refurbished. (15)

The Area Health Services Act 1986 (Act No.50, 1986), which commenced on1 July 1986, effectively abolished the boards of directors and replaced them with area health boards. The Maitland Hospital then reported to the Lower Hunter Area Health Service. (16) From 1 August 1988 following the amalgamation of area health services the Maitland Hospital became part of the Hunter Area Health Service. (17)

A major redevelopment of the Maitland Hospital was initiated in 1986 which was completed in early 1997. The development included clinical services comprising an integrated operating suite/day procedures unit with four operating rooms, an Emergency Unit, a Medical Imaging Department and a new ward block of 130 beds. Other facilites provided were a Paediatric Unit, Central Sterilising Unit, Coronary Care/High Dependency Unit, a Psychiatric Unit, a Maternity Unit, an Assessment and Rehabilitation Unit, an Occupational Therapy Unit. Other works included the relocation of the Medical Records Unit. (18)

The Public Hospitals Act 1929 was repealed by section 138 of the Health Services Act 1997 (Act No.154, 1997) which also repealed the Area Health Services Act 1986 (Act No.50, 1986). (19) Following amendments to the Health Services Act 1997 the Maitland Hospital became part of the Hunter and New England Area Health Service from 1 January 2005. (20)

Endnotes
(1) Maitland Mercury, 7 January 1843, p.2; ibid., 4 February 1843, p.2
(2) Ibid., 10 February 1844, p.2
(3) Ibid., 2 November 1844, p.4.
(4) Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, 4 December 1844, p.293.
(5) Ibid., Additional Appropriations for the Year 1845; Maitland Mercury, 14 December 1844, p.2
(6) Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, 2nd Session, 9 October 1846 and p.239.
(7) Maitland Mercury, 28 January 1846, p.2.
(8) An Act to enable certain Public Hospitals to sue and be sued in the name of their Treasurer and to provide for the taking and holding of Real Property belonging to such Hospitals respectively (Act 11 Vic. No.59).
(9) The Maitland Hospital Redevelopment, Hunter Health, 1996, p.5.
(10) Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 1884, p.8; Maitland Mercury, 18 December 1884, p.4.
(11) An Act to consolidate the Acts relating to Public Hospitals, 1898 (Act No.16, 1898).
(12) Op. cit. note 9, pp.5, 7.
(13) An Act to incorporate, regulate, and otherwise promote the objects of public hospitals; to constitute a Hospitals Commission; to repeal the Public Hospitals Act, 1898, and certain other Acts; to amend the Local Government Act, 1919, and certain other Acts; and for purposes connected therewith. (Act No.8, 1929) Second Schedule.
(14) Ibid. ss.18, 22, 28.
(15) Op. cit. note 9, p.7.
(16) Area Health Services Act 1986 (Act No.50, 1986) Sch.6 (2); NSW Government Gazette No.99, 27 June 1986, p.2946.
(17) Area Health Services Act 1986 Order in NSW Government Gazette No.123, 29 July 1988, pp.3999-4000.
(18) Op. cit. note 9, pp.1,15-21.
(19) Health Services Act 1997 (Act No.154, 1997) s.138.
(20) Ibid. Schedule 1; Health Services (Amalgamation of Area Health Services) Order 2004 in NSW Government Gazette No.166, 22 October 2004, pp.8129-3137.