Maryborough Hospital

General

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Also known as

Maryborough General Hospital

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

2 February 1998

Type

Health and care services: Hospital—other

Theme

10.1 Providing health and welfare services: Providing health services

Architects

Clark, John James

Donoghue, Cusick & Edwards

Hawkes, POE

Prangley & Tesch

Builder

Taylor, Robert

Construction periods

1885–1887, Maryborough Base Hospital - Centre Block (1885 April - 1887)

1885–1887, Maryborough Base Hospital - Ward (C Block) (1885 April - 1887)

1887–1928, Maryborough Base Hospital - Doctor's Residence (former) (1887 - 1928)

1887–1950, Maryborough Base Hospital (1887 - 1950)

1928, Maryborough Base Hospital - Former Nurses' Quarters (Demaine Block) (1928 - 1928)

1928, Maryborough Base Hospital - Lady Musgrave Maternity Ward (former) (1928 - 1928)

1928, Maryborough Base Hospital - Morgue (1928 - 1928)

1928, Maryborough Base Hospital - Medical Superindendent's Residence (1928 - 1928)

1938–1970, Maryborough Base Hospital - Operating Theatre (former) (1938 - 1970s)

1938, Maryborough Base Hospital - Nurses' Quarters (1938 - 1938)

1938, Maryborough Base Hospital - Residence (1938 - 1938)

1942, Maryborough Base Hospital - World War II Building (1942c - 1942c)

1950, Maryborough Base Hospital - Dining Room (former) (1950 - 1950)

1950, Maryborough Base Hospital - Kitchen (1950 - 1950)

1950, Maryborough Base Hospital - Residence (1950 - 1950)

1951, Maryborough Base Hospital - Ambulance Building (former) (1951 - 1951)

unknown, Maryborough Base Hospital - Boiler Building

unknown, Maryborough Base Hospital - Bus Shelter

Historical period

1870s–1890s Late 19th century

Style

Mediterranean

Spanish Mission

Location

Address

Walker Street, Maryborough

LGA

Fraser Coast Regional Council

Coordinates

-25.52228101, 152.69023727

Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

Developed in phases since its establishment in 1887, Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating changes in health care theories, technology, and provision by the Queensland Government. Notably, it retains: pavilion plan hospital buildings (1887) that illustrate the prevailing miasmatic theory of health care; the former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) that illustrates the comprehensive and progressive Queensland Government-run maternal and child health care agenda of the 1920s and 1930s; a former operating theatre (1938) that illustrates the subsequent universal adoption of germ theory of disease in health care; former nurses' quarters (1928 & 1938) that illustrate the development of nursing education and the nursing profession in Queensland; doctors' and medical staff residences (1887 remnant, 1928, 1938, and 1950) that illustrate the development of the health professions, and; an ambulance station (1951) that illustrates the evolution of medical emergency services in Queensland.

Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating the development of Maryborough during the 1880s economic boom when it became a town of regional importance and an agricultural, pastoral, industrial, commercial, and shipping centre for Queensland.

Criterion BThe place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland’s cultural heritage.

Maryborough Hospital is exceptional and rare in demonstrating the development of hospitals in Queensland from the nineteenth century through the twentieth century. The place retains buildings from the major periods of its development and many of these buildings are substantially intact.

The place retains rare surviving hospital buildings from the nineteenth century, including a rare surviving example of a pavilion plan ward in Queensland; an extensive number of such hospital wards were constructed but few survive.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a Queensland hospital, on a large site on elevated ground away from the town centre. Individual buildings on the site are also able to demonstrate characteristics of hospital buildings, including nineteenth century pavilion plan ward; nurses' quarters from the late 1920s and the late 1930s; maternity ward from 1928, several hospital residences and quarters; and an ambulance station.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Maryborough Hospital is important for its aesthetic significance as a collection of buildings with strong architectural merit standing in attractively laid out grounds. Buildings and structures are well-composed and constructed with high-quality materials and skill, and have significant streetscape qualities enhanced by axial arrangements, sweeping circular drives, extensive lawns, mature trees, and bed plantings.

Criterion GThe place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

Maryborough Hospital is important to the Maryborough community as their principal site of public health care since 1887.

History

The Maryborough Hospital opened in 1887 and has grown to comprise a complex of buildings covering a large site. The buildings of cultural heritage significance are: Block E (1887) and Block C (1887) - remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital; remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (1887); front entrance gates (1887); a bus shelter on Walker Street; former nurses' quarters (1928); former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928); doctor's residence (1928); former operating theatre (1938); former nurses' quarters (1938); doctor's residence (1938); medical staff duplex (1950); kitchen block (1951); ambulance station (1951); and boiler house (1954). The hospital has remained in continuous operation and in 2014 it remains the principal and largest hospital in Maryborough.

On the traditional land of the Badjala (Butchulla) people, the small town of Maryborough grew quickly from a struggling settlement established in 1847 to a promising town by the 1860s. With a busy government port of entry and through servicing the extraordinary wealth of the nearby Gympie goldfields, Maryborough was successful and the years 1870 to 1880 were extremely profitable with new commercial establishments, financial and other institutes, and industries established in the town. In this time of prosperity it was decided to construct a new Maryborough Hospital.

The first Maryborough Hospital was established in 1854 and prior to this the sick and invalid were treated at home by a few local medical practitioners. By 1859 it was moved nearer the new centre of town and was moved again in 1863. In 1864 the hospital was moved into its first purpose-built building, a substantial two-storey brick hospital. It was extended with additions in 1865 and 1876.

By the mid-1880s the hospital was considered inadequate and over 12 acres (4.8ha) of elevated land on the western outskirts of the town was reserved for a new hospital. The reserve was bounded by Walker Street to the south, Yaralla Street to the east, North Street to the north, and Neptune Street to the west.

The foundation stone of a new Maryborough Hospital was laid by Queensland Premier, Sir Samuel Griffith on 15 April 1885. By this time much of the hospital reserve had been cleared and trees planted.

The architect of the project, John James Clark was at that time the Colonial Architect, a position he retained from 1883 until 1885. Though this was a limited period of employment, Clark is a well-regarded architect as the designer of many important Queensland buildings. These include: Public Offices in Brisbane (Treasury Building QHR 600143); court houses in Mackay (QHR 600673), Rockhampton (QHR 600795), Warwick (QHR 600948) and Charters Towers (QHR 600403) as well as the Yungaba Immigration Depot in Brisbane (QHR 600245). Clark designed many health-related buildings throughout Queensland, including hospitals at Charleville and Geraldton; additions to Townsville Hospital, a lunatic asylum in Toowoomba (QHR 601161), and the Lady Norman Wing at the Brisbane Children's Hospital (QHR 601903).

Constructed by local contractor Robert Taylor, the Maryborough Hospital was an impressive complex and opened 20 May 1887. The total cost was approximately £16,000, arising from substantial donations from local benefactors and the Committee's General Fund with the remainder coming from the government. The new hospital comprised four separate brick buildings - a two-storey central administrative core (Block E) flanked by a two-storey ward on either side (Block C was the ward on the western side) with a one-storey kitchen block to the rear of the core. All were linked by one-storey, covered walkways. Block E accommodated offices, nurses' day room, dispensary, operating room, and dining room on the ground floor, and bathrooms and unspecified rooms on the first floor. The wards were identical and each accommodated a large public ward, small private ward, nurses' room, and store on the ground floor, repeated on the first floor.

Also constructed on the site at this time was a separate, one-storey medical superintendent's residence and a palisade fence with gates along Walker Street. The hospital design was based on contemporary principles about the pavilion plan.

For about 80 years from the 1860s, all Queensland hospital wards were based on the principles of the pavilion plan, which emerged as a development of hospital design in Europe in the 1850s. Pavilion planning was seen to overcome problems of poor ventilation and sanitation. From the nineteenth century, credence was given to the idea that disease was spread by foul air, according to miasmatic theory. The first pavilion plan was used in the design of the Lariboisièse Hospital in Paris, which was a series of detached pavilions where increased ventilation assisted patient recuperation. This was a breakthrough in hospital design because for the first time the building form was considered a crucial element of the healing process. By the 1870s and 1880s pavilion plan type hospital wards were being constructed in major Queensland hospitals. Of 76 pavilion plan wards constructed in Queensland during the nineteenth century only six survive: Maryborough; Isisford; Ipswich; and three wards at Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Under the direction of William Demaine, the chairman of the Maryborough Hospital board and government nominee, the Maryborough Hospital was 'modernised' during the interwar years. Demaine engaged architects outside the Department of Public Works to prepare new building designs with attention to new understanding of transmittal of diseases by germs - germ theory of disease having replaced miasmatic theory. Accordingly, new hospital buildings were dust free environments, had steam sterilisation of clinical equipment and a steam laundry. At Maryborough Hospital, old buildings were upgraded and new buildings were progressively aligned with germ theory concepts to meet the modern requirements.

In 1928 two substantial, reinforced concrete buildings were built in the grounds of Maryborough hospital: the Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital; and nurses' quarters. Both were designed by prominent and innovative local architect Philip Oliver Ellard Hawkes and were opened 24 November 1928.

The Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital was constructed as a result of the Maternity Act 1922, which introduced a state-wide network of free maternity wards and baby clinics. Before 1922, 'lying-in' hospitals were run by charitable or religious institutes to provide services for women unable to pay for private pre-natal care. The Act changed the nature of maternity care in Queensland, dramatically increasing the access to maternal and child health care.

Implementation began immediately and resulted in the construction of about 94 maternity hospitals or wards throughout Queensland before 1930. Many of Queensland's maternity wards were constructed to a standard plan, based on pavilion planning principles with surrounding verandahs and all beds in the ward located near on operable opening. Attached to the rear of the wards by an open verandah or covered walkway was a septic ward. The plan of the Maryborough maternity ward was built to the standard plan but was longer, accommodating 25 beds, nine private wards, matron's office, doctor's room, kitchenette, two labour wards, semi-detached septic ward, sterilising room, and matron's quarters. The one-storey, low-set building stood at the rear of the site and faced North Street.

The nurses' quarters at Maryborough Hospital was constructed following the introduction of the Hospital Nurses Award in 1921. This award set basic wages and working hours for nursing staff, and stipulated that all staff were entitled to free board and lodging in, if possible, separate rooms or suitable cubicles. The result of the award was the upgrading of accommodation for Queensland nurses and also an increase in the number of nurses employed at each Queensland hospital. Between 1924 and 1930, 26 nurses' quarters were constructed in Queensland. The Maryborough Hospital nurses' quarters provided accommodation for 78 nurses and domestic staff in a two-storey, long, narrow building with encircling timber-framed verandahs. It was built facing Walker Street, standing to the south-east of the 1887 hospital ward buildings.

To construct the nurses' quarters, the 1887 doctor's residence was partially demolished and a new doctor's residence was constructed to replace it. Also built in 1928 and designed by Hawkes, the house was built at the corner of Walker and Yaralla streets and was a one-storey, reinforced concrete structure with wide, timber-framed verandahs. It cost under £2000 and was carefully-designed to ensure passive temperature control.

Also in the late 1920s, a new morgue was built at the rear of the site, the 1887 buildings were refurbished, a lift was installed in Block E, and a second storey was added to the one-storey walkways.

The next phase of development at Maryborough Hospital occurred in the late 1930s under Demaine's continued stewardship. In 1938 a new nurses' quarters was constructed on the grounds facing Yaralla Street. It was one of the largest nurses' quarters in Queensland and similar in design to the 1928 quarters. It was also designed by Hawkes, although it was supervised by another architect, EH Boden, who may have contributed to the final design. It was a long, narrow, two-storey, reinforced concrete building with more than 100 bedrooms and encircling, timber-framed verandahs.

After the nurses moved into their new quarters, the 1928 nurses' quarters was converted to accommodate 35 private wards. At this time it was renamed the Demaine Building in honour of William Demaine, who was also Mayor of Maryborough at the time.

To augment the Demaine Building, a one-storey, masonry operating theatre with steam sterilisation facilities was constructed directly to the west. It was described in the Maryborough Chronicle at the time of opening 'as the most up to date in Australia', influenced by a 'famous hospital in Berlin', and a lengthy report of the innovative fittings and finishes was included. The building was later extended (1950s and 1970s) before being decommissioned and converted for use as a store (late 1970s) after new theatres were constructed.

Also designed by Hawkes, in 1938 a two-storey, reinforced concrete doctor's residence was built facing Walker Street. At the time, the Maryborough Chronicle described it as 'an imposing structure ... built on modern lines' and noted that attention was paid to ventilation. It accommodated ground floor living rooms with first floor bedrooms.

The total building costs of the 1938 work was £33,000 and was completed by Constructions Pty Ltd of Brisbane.

The Hospitals Act 1923 was amended in 1944 and, among other changes to the health care system, introduced the concept of base hospitals. Within each region of the state a base hospital was established to offer more specialised services than other hospitals in the region. Maryborough Hospital was renamed Maryborough Base Hospital in 1944, servicing the Wide Bay region.

A covered walkway connecting the two nurses' quarters was built by 1947.

Although the hospital saw increasing need for accommodation during the 1940s and several buildings were planned, little construction occurred at Maryborough Base Hospital until 1950. At this time, a one-storey, facebrick duplex was constructed facing Yaralla Street to the design of Brisbane architects Prangley and Tesch, accommodating medical staff. The Yaralla Street half of the hospital grounds had grown as a dedicated residential zone with separate buildings surrounded by lawns with maturing ornamental trees.

From its establishment, the hospital grounds were carefully laid out and this practice was continued into the 1950s. Landscape compositions were symmetrical with the buildings well-separated and standing proudly, surrounded by lawns with defined, straight paths and small areas of flower beds. The street boundaries were defined by tall ornamental trees. A particular feature of the hospital was circular drives that were aligned with the front of major buildings. Early photographs show that the mature trees planted on the elevated site of the hospital were conspicuous in the generally-flat landscape of the town. After the 1950s, less attention was paid to maintaining these landscape elements and some were demolished to make way for the construction of buildings.

In 1951, a kitchen with attached nurses' dining room was constructed to the rear of Block E. It was designed by Brisbane architects Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards and was a one-storey, brick building costing £143,000.

Also in 1951 an ambulance building was constructed on Neptune Street to the design of Bundaberg architect Eric H Bowden by contractor Les Howard. It comprised four bays for ambulances, an area with a hoist for servicing vehicles, change room, office, treatment room, equipment room, and toilets. Housing four ambulances, an ambulance servicing area, change room, office, treatment room, equipment room, and toilets, it cost £7,500.

From 1952 to 1992 the hospital operated as a training hospital for nurses. Over this period, a large number of training nurses were accommodated in the 1938 nurses' quarters.

In 1953 the first section of what was to become the largest building on the site was constructed in front of the buildings facing Walker Street. Always intended to be extended, this section of the building was opened 14 November 1953 by the Minister for Health and Home Affairs, Mr WM Moore. It operated as an outpatients and administrative wing of the hospital. Constructed by Queensland Building and Engineering Co. for £89,945.

In 1954 a new brick boiler house was constructed on Neptune Street to the design of Brisbane architects Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards.

In the early 1960s, the hospital grounds expanded. A 5 acre (2.88ha) block of land across North Street was acquired, North Street was closed, and the new land and the road reserve were incorporated into the hospital site. In 1965 a new Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital was constructed on the incorporated land. This new building took over maternity operations and the 1928 maternity ward was repurposed for general hospital use.

In 1977 and 1987 the outpatients building (1953) was extended, resulting in a large brick building of three and four storeys along Walker Street that obscured the earlier hospital buildings from view.

Between 1987 and 1989 the eastern ward of the original pavilion plan hospital was demolished.

In 1991 the former Lady Musgrave Hospital (1928) was extensively remodelled internally.

In 2006 a substantial aged care facility was constructed at the north east corner of the site on the land acquired in the early 1960s (corner of Winston Noble Drive and Yaralla Street). This facility comprised one-storey, masonry buildings in extensive gardens. To make way for construction, the morgue (1928) was demolished. The aged care facility was sold into private ownership in 2013 and the land it occupied was subdivided off from the hospital.

In 2009 the last resident doctor at Maryborough hospital retired and moved out of the doctor's residence (1928). The house was then used by the Wide Bay Hospitals Museum Society.

The ground floor of Block C was refurbished in 2012.

In 2014 Maryborough hospital continues to operate as the town's principal and largest public hospital.

Description

The Maryborough Hospital is a complex of hospital buildings standing amidst mature trees and large, open lawns on an elevated 5.9 hectare site west of the centre of Maryborough. The site is bounded by Walker Street to the southwest, which is the primary entrance, Yaralla Street to the southeast, Winston Noble Drive and a private aged care facility on the northeast, and Neptune Street to the northwest. The elevated grounds retain mature trees that are prominent in the largely-flat landscape of Maryborough.

Buildings of cultural heritage significance in the complex are:

- remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital (1887) including

- the central administration building, (Centre Block/Block E)

- ward, (Block C)

- remnant of the medical superintendent's residence, (Block N) and

- front entrance gates;

- bus shelter on Walker Street;

- former nurses' quarters (1928) (Demaine/Block F);

- former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) (Block K and Block T);

- doctor's residence (1928) (Block Y);

- former operating theatre (1938) (Block V);

- nurses' quarters (1938) (Block O);

- doctor's residence (1938) (Block X);

- covered walkway between nurses' quarters (by 1947);

- medical staff duplex (1950) (Block Z);

- kitchen block (1951) (Block G);

- ambulance station (1951) (Block D), and;

- boiler house (1954) (Block S).

Remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital

The remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital comprise two two-storey, brick buildings (the central administration building - Block E, and the former ward - Block C) linked by a two-storey walkway, a remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (Block N), and front entrance gates.

Blocks E and C are substantially disguised by closely-surrounding buildings and later accretions that are not of cultural heritage significance.

Block E is a low-set, two-storey building with a facebrick core surrounded by timber-framed verandahs on the front and side elevations of both levels and a hipped and gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The building is symmetrically composed around a projecting front entrance that is aligned axially with the original front entrance gates on Walker Street; however, this relationship is blocked by recent, three and four-storey buildings. The verandahs are mainly enclosed. Original cast iron balustrade survives but has been relocated from the first floor to the ground. Gable ends feature decorative, stop-chamfered timberwork and eaves supported on timber brackets. The ground floor interior is reasonably intact in its original layout, retaining plastered masonry partitions, moulded timber joinery, fireplaces, doors and door hardware, and windows. The large front entrance door is double leaf, timber-framed and glazed with sidelights and a round arched fanlight. The 1929 lift is retained in its original condition. The interior of the first floor does not retain its original layout, with walls and partitions demolished to open up into the enclosed verandahs, and new partitions inserted throughout.

Block C is an L-shaped, low-set, two-storey, building with a facebrick core surrounded by timber-framed verandahs on both levels and a hipped and gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It has eaves supported on timber brackets. The ground floor does not retain its original layout. The first floor retains its original layout with the large ward spatially intact and bathroom annexe accessed from the verandah. The levels retain plastered masonry partitions, a decorative timber stair, timber joinery, and a raked ceiling of timber boards with decorative timber vented rose in the first floor ward.

The remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (Block N) is a small, low-set, one-storey masonry building standing closely-adjacent to the rear of the 1928 nurses' quarters. It has facebrick walls and a timber-framed verandah at the eastern end, which follows the apsidal plan form of the building. The building has a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and a facebrick chimney. An attached block at the rear of the building has its own hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and facebrick chimney. The interior retains its original layout, masonry partitions, fireplaces, and timber joinery including French doors and large double-hung sash windows.

The front entrance gates comprise four substantial rendered masonry gate posts with cast iron palisade gates and a short section of palisade fence either side. The central gate allows vehicle access and this is flanked by narrower gates for pedestrians. The central two gate posts are larger than the flanking posts and all feature a steeply-pitched, double gabled cap. The faces of the central posts have trefoiled, lancet-type recesses and this motif is repeated on the smaller posts with circular recesses housing trefoils. The corner edges of the posts are chamfered and the posts have enlarged bases. The iron gates and fence are decorative with substantial staves relieved by more delicate tracery.

Bus shelter

The bus shelter stands immediately adjacent to the entrance gates, abutting the Walker Street footpath. It is an open-sided, timber-framed shelter with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The timber corner posts are heavy and have large decorative timber brackets. The shelter is surrounded by a low, roughcast rendered masonry wall with iron chain swags between pillars. The wall supports a timber and iron perimeter seat under the shelter.

Former nurses' quarters (1928) (Demaine Building, Block F)

The former nurses' quarters (1928) is a large, low-set, two-storey masonry building facing Walker Street. It has a strong street presence with a well-mannered and robust domestic character. The building stands well back from the front boundary behind a generous landscaped yard featuring a circular drive around a small traffic island containing a mature poinciana (Delonix regia). The drive is framed on the Walker Street boundary by four mature, evenly-spaced fig trees. The structure has a reinforced concrete frame with rendered masonry infill sheltered by a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It is symmetrically-composed, comprising a long central wing, parallel to Walker Street, flanked by transverse wings that project toward the street. Lining the front and the rear of the building are timber-framed verandahs with timber-battened balustrades and valances. The verandah projects forward centrally at the front and rear entrance, emphasised by a large roof gable with a battened end on both sides. Entrance is via a central concrete stair with timber balustrade up to the ground floor and via a central timber stair at the rear. The layout of the ground and first floors retains the main central stair hall and stair and the first floor retains French doors onto the verandahs. The remainder of the layout on both levels has modern partitions, some are in the location of earlier partitions. External steel fire stairs are not of cultural heritage significance.

Former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) (Block K and Block T)

The former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) stands at the rear of the site and faces northeast to the former North Street. It is a long, one-storey, reinforced concrete building with a steeply-pitched hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The core is encircled by a timber-famed verandah, enclosed with later weatherboards and aluminium-framed windows. The front is symmetrical with a central projecting bay emphasised by a gable roof with a battened gable end. Small concrete annexes project from the west verandah (the former matron's rooms), from the east verandah (former labour wards), and from the rear verandah (former bathrooms and service rooms). Connected by a short covered walkway to the eastern end of the rear verandah is the former septic ward (Block T). This small reinforced concrete structure is encircled by verandahs that are now enclosed.

The interior layout of the maternity ward is not intact. Original partitions have been demolished and modern partitions inserted.

Doctor's residence (1928) (Block Y)

The doctor's residence (1928) is substantially intact. It stands on the corner of Yaralla and Walker Streets and diagonally faces the intersection. It is a one-storey, low-set building with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The reinforced concrete core is encircled by a timber-framed verandah that has a timber rail balustrade. The interior layout is intact, retaining timber partitions and timber joinery including doors, fanlights, and windows with original hardware. The yard is fenced separately from the hospital by an early fence and two mature pine trees frame the front corner view of the house from the street. Standing within the yard behind the house is a early, timber-framed and -clad garage.

Former operating theatre (1938) (Hanlon Theatre, Block V)

The former operating theatre (1938) is a one-storey, low-set masonry building standing immediately adjacent to the north-west of the former nurses' quarters (1928). The building faces Walker Street and has roughcast rendered walls and a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The front is symmetrical around a central projecting bay marked by a decorative Dutch-gable parapet. The bay is flanked by square steel-framed windows with hinged sashes of obscure glass.

Former nurses' quarters (1938) (Block O)

The former nurses' quarters (1938) is particularly intact and has a strong street presence with a well-mannered and robust domestic character. It is a large, low-set, two-storey masonry building facing Yaralla Street. It stands well back from the front boundary behind a generous, landscaped yard featuring a symmetrical circular drive around a small traffic island containing a poinciana (Delonix regia). Two mature palms stand in the front yard symmetrically, one either side of the drive. The structure has a reinforced concrete frame with rendered masonry infill sheltered by a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheers. It is symmetrically-composed, comprising a long central wing, parallel to Yaralla Street, flanked by transverse wings that project to the front and back, resulting in an H-shaped plan. Lining the front and rear of the building are timber-framed verandahs with timber-battened balustrades and valances. The verandah is enclosed at the front entrance with steel-framed glass louvres and in other places with early sheet material and narrow, timber-framed casement windows - the windows are original and removed from elsewhere in the building. The verandah projects forward centrally at the front and rear entrance, emphasised by a large roof gable with a battened end on both sides. A central, concrete stair on both sides gives access to the ground floor. The layouts of the ground and first floors are intact. A central stair hall retains a clear-finished timber stair. A corridor runs through the centre of the three wings and provides access to small rooms on either side. The rooms open onto the verandah via timber, glazed French doors. Partitions are original timber-framed, single-skin clad with fibrous cement and Masonite. The building retains original timber joinery including doors and windows with original hardware.

A mature tree stands to the southwest of this building.

A timber-framed covered walkway connects the two nurses' quarters buildings.

Doctor's residence (1938) (Block X)

The doctor's residence (1938) stands to the south-east of the former nurses' quarters (1928) and faces Walker Street. It is a two-storey, low-set masonry building with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The walls are rendered and the front is symmetrically-composed around a central arcade loggia with three round headed arches. The roof of the loggia is accessed from the first floor as a terrace. Square headed windows with timber shutters are located rhythmically on the front and sides and the rear elevation has a timber-framed, enclosed verandah on both levels. The interior layout is intact, retaining plastered partitions, and timber joinery including a clear-finished stair, and doors and windows with original hardware.

Medical staff duplex (1950) (Block Z)

The medical staff duplex (1950) is a one-storey, low-set facebrick duplex facing Yaralla Street. It stands within a defined yard near the street boundary and is a well-composed design with a hipped roof clad with tiles. The front elevation is symmetrical and has a central projection with a hipped roof accommodating the entrances and features timber-framed awning windows and two decorative, metal grilles. The front features darker orange bricks up to sill level with paler orange bricks above this. A fence separates the duplex yards into two. The interior was not inspected. The building retains its original layout intact.

Kitchen Block (1951) (Block G)

The kitchen block (1951) is a one-storey, low-set facebrick building with a gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It stands immediately behind the Block E. The building has a series of large windows in its north-eastern side. The interior was not inspected.

Ambulance station (1951) (Block D)

The ambulance station (1951) is a one-storey, masonry building facing Neptune Street. It has a skillion roof clad with corrugated metal sheets concealed behind a parapet. The facade abuts the footpath and accommodates four large metal garage roller doors. At the northern corner of the building is a tall facebrick parapet tower that is symmetrically composed and attractively-designed. It has a rendered concrete cap and two parallel vertical concrete fins with curved tops. A narrow cantilevered concrete awning surrounds the building. It retains original double-hung timber-framed sash windows. The interior is not intact. The metal clad extension on the southwestern end is not of cultural heritage significance.

Boiler house (1954) (Block S)

The boiler house (1954) is a tall, reinforced concrete-framed building with facebrick infill panels and a steep, skillion roof clad with metal sheets. On all sides are metal louvres that ventilate the interior. The interior was not inspected.

All other structures on the site are not of cultural heritage significance.

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