Asbestos part of decision to demolish historic Gympie nurses quarters

A century-old part of one of Queensland’s oldest hospitals is now on the countdown to destruction, but authorities remain mum on the future of the ageing and built-in health facility.

A century-old part of the Gympie Hospital precinct, its old nurses quarters, is now on the countdown to destruction, but authorities remain mum on the future of the ageing and built-in health facility.

The future of Gympie’s hospital precinct remains an unknown, but at least one historic corner of the facility will not be part of it no matter what the plans are.

The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Services has confirmed the old nurses quarters is being demolished as part of the wider $8 million investment in new living quarters next to the hospital.

The quarters have stood at the Henry St location for almost a century.

Work started on new staff accommodation directly opposite the hospital in August.

A spokeswoman said the work, part of the state government’s Building Rural and Remote Health Program, includes “the demolition of old nurses’ quarters, which does contain asbestos, and is being managed appropriately by experts”.

The new building will “significantly improve staff experience as well as being closer to the hospital and health facility’s core operations,” she said.

In August the state government began construction of a new $8 million staff accommodation building, directly opposite the Gympie Hospital.

Despite its age, the nurses quarters is not listed on either Gympie Regional Council’s or state government’s heritage registers.

Its absence from these protection lists, and its looming demolition, sparked an outcry on social media.

Local history buff Mal Dodt, who runs the popular Gympie – The Real Treasure is the Town Facebook page, said it would be “another piece of Gympie history lost”.

Janet Coveney said she “lived there in 1965” and asked that “surely the building could be used for something good”, and Derek Sheppard said “surely there must be heritage value in the architecture and construction”.

Bambette Kerr offered a different view.

“It’s a lovely building. But it‘s also a large space that will better the area with a modern and bigger medical facility. Or even secure multi level parking,” she said.

The future of Gympie Hospital, which has been located at the Henry St site for more than a century and has been built in by housing, remains unclear despite a push by LNP MP Tony Perrett for a new facility and the state government’s own report in 2021 saying it needed to be redeveloped.

While the future of the old quarters was clear, it was not the case for what plans were ahead for the hospital.

The region’s LNP MP Tony Perrett has been pushing since 2020 for planning to start the construction of a new hospital to replace the “awkwardly” located existing facility and cater for the region’s growing population.

The SCHHS’s own 2022-27 masterplan failed to reach self-sufficiency targets across 20 medical categories.

It found the hospital needed to be redeveloped.

There was, however, limited space to do so.

Gympie Hospital, one of the state’s oldest, is almost entirely built in at its Henry St location, where it has been located in one form or another for more than 150 years.

Housing surrounds it on almost every side, with the only undeveloped adjacent land a steep tree-lined gully between Henry St and Popes Rd.

SCHHS declined to make any comment on future plans for the hospital, and whether the construction of the new accommodation meant the future lay at the existing site.

“Gympie Hospital remains a key infrastructure focus for Sunshine Coast Health and we continue to undertake works in line with our planning framework,” the SCHHS spokeswoman said.