When did Old Isisford District Hospital become a heritage-listed site?
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Old Isisford District Hospital is a heritage-listed former public hospital at 6 St Agnes Street, Isisford, Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and built from 1914 to 1918. It is also known as Isisford District Hospital (former). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 September 2014.
Old Isisford District Hospital
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Old Isisford District Hospital was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 September 2014 having satisfied the following criteria.
Old Isisford District Hospital
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In 1996, a survey of the heritage buildings under the administration of the Queensland Department of Health identified the Isisford Hospital Maternity Ward as of state heritage significance. It concluded that the building was substantially intact. The 1909 pavilion ward was also identified as a significant twentieth century pavilion ward.
Old Isisford District Hospital
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The Isisford Clinic in the former Isisford District Hospital closed in 2011, when it was replaced by a new Isisford Primary Health Clinic located nearby on the corner of St Agnes and St Helena Streets, still within the former hospital reserve. In 2014, its future use has yet to be determined.
Old Isisford District Hospital
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The former Isisford District Hospital is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a district hospital in Queensland. Located on a large, elevated site at a distance from the town centre, the hospital includes wards, operating theatre, maternity ward, sterilising room, dispensary, morgue, staff accommodation, kitchen and laundry facilities.
Old Isisford District Hospital
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Staffing became an issue again post-World War II, which prompted the community to fund-raise to resolve this problem. There was no doctor at Isisford Hospital between December 1945 and May 1946 and when the remaining medical staff resigned because of over-work, the hospital temporarily closed. This prompted the committee to send a letter of complaint to Queensland Premier Ned Hanlon in May 1946 about the lack of staff at Isisford Hospital due to bureaucratic inefficiency. At the same time a series of public meetings were held and Isisford established the Isisford Hospital Benefit Fund from June 1946 - a voluntary subscription list for the purpose of endowing the nursing staffs' wages at per person per calendar month, as compensation for the extra cost of living in the isolated district. As a result of the wage bonus, the Matron returned and two double-certificated nurses and an assistant nurse were obtained. Thereafter, the extra per month made it possible to retain a full nursing staff. However, it still remained difficult to get doctors appointed through the centralised system and to retain them.
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Isisford District Hospital's plan, location and siting on a large reserve occupying a rise to the south of the town centre, followed the accepted principles for late nineteenth century hospitals. As a series of interconnected buildings, it conformed to the popular pavilion plan for hospitals, comprising a series of detached pavilions, designed to provide light and fresh air. Like other small Queensland hospitals, the wards and rooms of the Isisford District Hospital were enclosed by wide verandahs, while kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities were contained in semi-detached blocks. The design of hospital buildings, and their location and siting, was influenced by the widely accepted miasmatic theory of disease, which postulated that disease was transmitted by breathing air that was contaminated. Therefore, good ventilation and sanitation would reduce the spread of disease. An essential element of a good hospital site was an elevated position on a generous area of land, preferably on the outskirts of a town. The elevated site was advantageous in catching breezes and enhancing the flow of fresh air through the wards. A large hospital reserve, well removed from the urban centre, was believed to minimise the effect of noxious and foul vapours. Hospital reserves at this time were almost invariably on the outskirts of a town and comprised an extensive area of land, well in excess of what was required, with the main block and out-buildings occupying less than a tenth of the total reserve.
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As at 2014, the former Isisford District Hospital retains fabric from its earliest phase through its development over the ensuring 70 years. Part of the original hospital is at the core of its pavilion plan. The 1909 pavilion ward is intact and now uncommon. Of the 78 twentieth century pavilion hospitals and wards identified in the 1996 Queensland Health Heritage Survey, this ward is one of fewer than 21 extant. The 1924 maternity ward is one of no more than 13 former standard plan maternity wards remaining from the 71 that were built according to the standard 5/9 bed plan between 1923 and 1936. Of the existing standard plan maternity wards, most have been substantially modified and no longer demonstrate the principal characteristics of the standard plan, whereas the Isisford Maternity Ward remains one of the most intact standard maternity wards.
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Starting in 1948 and continuing into the 1950s, extensions were made to Isisford Hospital including: a kitchen, operating theatre and an extension to one of the 1892 buildings. Blackall Hospitals Board was advised by the Department of Health and Home Affairs that its plan for remodelling the Isisford Hospital had been approved; there was also approval for installation of an X-ray plant at Isisford.
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However, in the 1930s the Isisford District Hospital was still supported by the fund-raising efforts of its committee, showing the importance of the institution to the district. Throughout the 1930s the Isisford Hospital Committee undertook alterations and additions to improve the hospital including alterations to the maternity ward in 1933 increase ventilation in the building the addition in 1935, of reticulated water, after the council's weir was completed in October 1934.
Old Isisford District Hospital