Directory

Local History Sites

First Private Hospital (c1913)

Description

Medical services not well recorded

About 1907 a general hospital, comprising two large tents, is said to have been set up and run by 'Nurse Court' near the corner of Prospect and Main Streets.

In August 1912 a self-funded private hospital with accommodation for 12 patients opened in nearby Marburg. The following year a similar facility opened in Lowood.

Private Hospital opens in Prospect St

Lowood's 'Telephone Exchange' directory, published on 1 April 1913, listed 'Nurse Burt phone number 6', at the Private Hospital in Prospect Street (there were only 17 numbers listed).

The following year Sarah Burt registered 'Lowood Private General Hospital' with Lowood Shire Council. Council Minutes of 5 May 1914 state that its Medical Officer, Dr William Jamieson "...had inspected the hospital and found it suitable for the purpose."

                                                 

This map (from a 1919 real estate poster) shows the hospital in Prospect Street near the corner of Main Street, along with the office of new local GP, Dr Heyman. Nurse Burt's house was right next door. 

It's not known when this hospital closed, but in the 1920s a large private hospital opened next to the Royal Hotel in Michel Street and continued to operate there until the 1950s. Lowood Medical Centre now occupies that site.

The former hospital in Prospect Street is now a private residence.