‘One of the oldest’: Charters Towers Hospital’s 140th anniversary

When Charters Towers Hospital was built with gold rush money in 1884, no one could’ve imagined the life it would go on to lead - or the advances in health care it would witness.

A picture of the Gill St site, as it appeared in a 1891 copy of the Northern Miner Registry.

Most times when a hospital celebrates its 140th anniversary, it’s either boarded up, torn down, converted into a public centre or hosting active ghost tours.

But in Charters Towers, the town’s mighty gold rush-era hospital was wished a happy anniversary by nurses still working in it.

For 140 years the stately building has loyally kept the weather at bay while medical teams performed minor miracles.

Sure, its old-fashioned narrow hallways and rooms have given renovators a cold sweat at times, and who can forget the story about its floor not being strong enough to hold up a CT machine?

But with a little nip and tuck (and some floor rebuilding), retirement has stayed off the cards for this old battler.

CTHS clinical nurse Leonie Pardon and director of nursing Katrina Ford at the Gill St Health Complex, celebrating the 140th anniversary of the complex’s oldest building which was offically opened on August 10, 1884.

Charters Towers Health Service director of nursing Katrina Ford described the 23-bed hospital as a landmark institution.

“It is one of the oldest operational health buildings in Queensland and today serves as the inpatient ward on the ground floor and a space for community health services on the second floor,” Ms Ford said.

“Since opening in 1884 the hospital and healthcare in Charters Towers has continued to adapt and grow to meet the ever-changing needs of the community.”

This photograph of the Charters Towers Hospital is believed to have been taken in 1960.

This changing nature can be observed in the continual expansions and refurbishments done at the Gill Street health service ground, including a $4.5 million project to deliver radiology equipment, the CT scanner and its purpose-built room.

Another big addition to the hospital has been the recent inclusion of renal services and dialysis machines, which the community championed diligently while the application worked its way across government desks.

How far technology has come: Charters Towers SES Members assist with Medivac extractions from the Charters Towers Hospital.

So how does Charters Towers Hospital stack up against it’s competition?

Australia has a funny history with hospitals - the first ever one was the ‘tent hospital’ in 1788 which treated convicts, the poor and Aboriginal people during the deadly smallpox epidemic.

When it came time to build a proper hospital the government was too broke, so they asked three businessmen to build it and in return they got a short-term monopoly on the distribution of 60,000 gallons of rum.

Traeger MP Robbie Katter outside Charters Towers Hospital

Hence Australia’s first ever public hospital, the ‘Rum Hospital’, was opened in 1816.

According to the National Museum of Australia the Rum Hospital was ‘shoddy’ with ‘structural faults in the roof, foundation and beams’.

At the time the general public saw hospitals akin to poor houses and places of last resort, and preferred to be treated by doctors in their own homes where family could nurse them.

The Rum Hospital was demolished in 1879 when newspapers condemned it for being ‘infected with hospitalism’ (it was widely believed germs could become embedded in the walls, causing patients to suffer infections) and a new hospital was opened in 1894, which the Sydney Hospital and Eye Hospital currently resides in.

When you google ‘oldest hospital in Australia’ you are directed to the Sydney Hospital and Eye Hospital, but in reality that building is 10 years younger than Charters Towers’ very own grand dame.

Originally published as ‘One of the oldest’: Charters Towers Hospital’s 140th anniversary