Queen Alexandra Hospital, Hobart Explained

Queen Alexandra Hospital, Hobart
Region:Hobart
Country:Australia
Healthcare:DHHS
Type:Maternity, neonatal care
Speciality:Midwifery
Affiliation:None
Beds:11
Founded:1902
Closed:1980
Website:None

The Queen Alexandra Hospital for Women was a maternity hospital and children's hospital established at Hobart, Tasmania in 1905 to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902 on a site in Hampden Road, Battery Point.[1]

The hospital was primarily designed to care for women who were pregnant, in need of natal and neonatal care, and as a training hospital for midwives and nurses.

It was originally operated by a private board of management, but in 1950 it came under the control of the Government of Tasmania, who increasingly affiliated its services with those of the Royal Hobart Hospital. In 1980, the building in Battery Point which was becoming too antiquated for modern health care services, was closed, and the Queen Alexandra hospital was moved to a new wing attached to the Royal. In 1999, the Queen Alexandra wing was leased to a private hospital organisation, which re-opened the site as the Hobart Private Hospital.

Hollywood actor Errol Flynn was born at the hospital in 1909.[2] Martin Bryant, the perpetrator of the Port Arthur massacre, was born at the hospital in May 1967.[3] Queen Mary, the current Queen consort of Denmark, was born as Mary Elizabeth Donaldson at Queen Alexandra Hospital on 5 February 1972.[4]

Notes and References

  1. http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/default.aspx?detail=1&type=A&id=TA00459 Agency Details: Queen Alexandra Hospital for Women
  2. Tierney, Judy: Seeking out Flynn, The 7.30 Report (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 1 October 2002.
  3. Web site: Wainwright . Robert . 2009-04-26 . A dangerous mind: what turned Martin Bryant into a mass murderer? . 2024-06-07 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.
  4. Book: Palshoj . Karin . Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark . Redder . Gitte . Mallett . Zanne Jappe . 2005-11-01 . Allen & Unwin . 978-1-74115-887-8 . en.