Swan Maternity Hospital

Statement of Significance

The brick and tile former hospital at No. 590 Newcastle Street has historic value through its essential role in the development of maternity and obstetrics health services and the provision of specialized maternity care in the area north of Perth during the first half of the 20th Century. The place has some social value as it was once a highly valued part of the health services available in the area

Physical Description

The single storey brick and tile dwelling is constructed in the Queen Anne Federation Bungalow style of architecture over two lots. The main original portion of the subject place has a two-room street frontage and a main hipped tiled roof form with broad simple roof planes and a gable over the central front entrance featuring a white painted barge board and white painted battens. The verandah forms part of a continuation of the main hipped roof form with an extended shallower pitch and originally extended the periphery of the building featuring timber posts and decorative valance and ornamental brackets typical of the Federation Queen Anne style. Much of the verandah has since been enclosed and the decorative detail removed.
Internally the front entrance of the building opens into a long central hallway with the rooms projecting to the east and west of the central hallway forming part of the original portion of the maternity hospital. The rooms to the eastern portion of the original building form part of the extensions made to the building in the 1960s.
Occupies a slightly upward sloping site overlooking Newcastle Street. Set back approximately five metres from the footpath and elevated above a brick wall which is approximately twelve brick courses high. Removal of the front timber valances and verandah curtains and the enclosure of most of the verandah. Additions and extensions to the outer shell of the building.

History

The Gold Rushes of the late 1890s and early 1900s resulted in an increase in the population and placed enormous pressure on existing maternity resources and facilities. As training opportunities improved, more trained midwives opened larger homes and provided services which the smaller homes could not compete with. The Swan Maternity Hospital, at No. 590 Newcastle Street, was built to facilitate the demand of maternity and obstetrics services in the local area in 1913. The hospital was advertised as having the privilege of “Each patient has a separate room”.
The Wise’s Post Office Directories show that no occupier was listed at the subject lot at No. 590 Newcastle Street before 1914, indicating that the lot had not been developed before this time. In 1914 a private hospital is listed as occupying the subject place with Mrs. A. M. M. Stockley (Alice) in residence. Mrs. Stockley is listed until 1937 when her name was replaced by Mrs. A. F. Bell. Between 1939 and 1945 the place is listed as Swan Hospital, with Mrs. Stockley as the nurse.
In 1945 the government adopted a new policy which provided maternity wards in all main hospitals. Many private maternity hospitals closed or were taken over by the government. The Swan Maternity Hospital changed its ownership to nurses Menzies and Jackson in 1944 and renamed to Blaich Appin Maternity Hospital in 1946. The State Record Office information confirms that the Department of Health purchased the Blaich Appin Maternity Hospital in 1949. The property remains under the ownership of the Department of Health to the present day.
A Metropolitan Water Supply Sewerage & Drainage Department (MWSSD) Plan shows the outline of the property in 1952. The original layout of the subject place remains relatively intact nowadays. In 1968 alterations and additions were undertaken by a Principal Architect Leonard J.Walters from the Public Works Department of Western Australia for the Perth Child Guidance Clinic, Blaich Appin, Leederville. Most of the verandah was enclosed and an eight-room office was built on the original lawn and garden as a new addition.

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This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.