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The first batch of 736 convicts sent to Australia from Portsmouth, England were suffering from dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid on arrival. Governor Phillip and Surgeon-General John White established a tent hospital along what is now George Street in The Rocks to care for the worst cases. Needless to say, there was a high incidence of death. A portable hospital prefabricated in England from wood and copper arrived in Sydney with the Second Fleet, in 1790.
Upon arriving in the Colony of New South Wales at the end of 1810, Governor Macquarie discovered that Sydney's hospital was nothing more than tents shelters. He set aside land on the western edge of the Government Domain for a new hospital and created a new road – Macquarie Street – to provide access to it. However, his plans were derailed because the British Government refused to fund the hospital.
Governor Macquarie consequently entered into a contract with a consortium of businessmen - Garnham Blaxcell, Alexander Riley and, later, D'Arcy Wentworth - to erect the new hospital. They were to receive convict labour and supplies and a monopoly on rum imports from which they expected to recoup the cost of the building and gain considerable profits. The contract, signed on 6 November 1810, allowed them to import 45,000 (later increased to 60,000) gallons of rum to sell to colonists. Because of this rather peculiar arrangement, Sydney Hospital was originally called the Rum Hospital.
Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street, Sydney
by J Bar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SydneyHospital.JPG (GNU General Public License)
It is not clear who designed the Sydney Hospital complex. It would be either Governor Macquarie or John O'Hearen. John O'Hearen is the likely designer, as he even signed himself as "architect" in correspondences related to the project.
When the hospital was nearing completion in 1815, the now famous convict architect Francis Greenway (who designed St James' Church nearby) was asked to inspect it. He condemned it, saying it "must soon fall into ruin". He pointed out short cuts in the construction, weak joins, rotting stonework and more. Although Governor Macquarie ordered the contractors to remedy the defects, by 1820, the southern wing was already deemed unsafe. Francis Greenway was commissioned to undertake repair works on both wings and rearrange the internal space. More repairs were done in 1826. Many of the defects were hidden away until recent restoration carried out in the 1980s.
By 1984, restoration of the Sydney Hospital building was complete. Together with its "twin" the former Sydney Mint, Sydney Hospital is the oldest building on Macquarie Street and the oldest public building in the City of Sydney.
Return to Sydney Travel Guide or to Australia Travel Guide
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