Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital (1902 - 1989)

Summary

The Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital in Adelaide was opened in 1902 as South Australia's first maternity hospital, under the name the Queen's Home. It was the initiative of Audrey Tennyson, wife of South Australia's Governor Hallam Tennyson. Her concern was that women, particularly the poor and those from the country and remote areas, should have access to rest and quality healthcare after delivering their babies. The Hospital was established with the assistance of the South Australian Company. Antenatal clinics were opened in 1920, with the first medical registrar and resident medical officer being appointed in 1923. As well as maternity services, the Hospital provided training for nurses. In 1939 the Hospital was renamed the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital, later being declared a public hospital under the provisions of the Hospital Benefits Act (1946). South Australia's first humidicribs were installed in 1925, while the state's first neonatal intensive care unit was established in 1975. The Hospital amalgamated with the Adelaide Children's Hospital in 1989 to become the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children (from 1995 the Women's and Children's Hospital).

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Nursing in South Australia : first hundred years 1837-1937 (Adelaide: South Australian Trained Nurses' Centenary Committee, 1938), 348 pp. Details

Resources

• Women's and Children's Hospital, History of the WCH, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, 2024, https://www.wch.sa.gov.au/about/wch-history. Details

Resource Sections

• Adelaide AZ, 'Governor's wife gets Adelaide's first public maternity hospital, the Queen's, in 1902, but no single women allowed', in AdelaideAZ, Adelaide, 2024. https://adelaideaz.com/articles/campaign-for-public-maternity-hospital-. Details