Greenslopes Private Hospital History
"The Bunker" Museum
A historical museum for Greenslopes Private Hospital has been established in one of the former and still existing “bunkers” of the hospital. There were originally three bunkers located at Greenslopes Hospital during the war, with only one still in existence.
The story of Greenslopes Hospital is a slice of Australian national history since it was opened in 1942, many experiences and events have occurred at the hospital.
“The Bunker” displays many old photos dating back to pre opening in 1942 and newspaper clippings from the hospital’s past. Visitors to the bunker can enjoy the story of the hospital’s 60 year history through the audiovisual presentation which is part of the display. Endocrinologist and resident historian, Dr Chris Strakosch has had a life long interest history and was integral in setting up the display and continuing to ensure new elements are added to keep it interesting.
The Bunker is open to patients and visitors Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm. If you are interested in visiting “The Bunker” our hospital volunteers run regular tours. Simply contact our Marketing Department on 3394 7614.
Click here to visit the Historic Greenslopes website.
Healing the Wounds of War
Australia was fighting for its survival when the Greenslopes hospital opened in 1942. Japan had bombed Pearl Harbour, captured Singapore, and begun bombing raids on Darwin. For tens of thousands of patients, the new military hospital at Greenslopes became a symbol of optimism a reaffirmation of life and the future. The personal tragedy, hardship, humour, and triumph shared since by patients and staff began a rich and unique history.
The first patients arrived from battlefronts in the Pacific, Europe, and North Africa and the Middle East.
From 1946, patients were also to include ‘diggers' who had served in the legendary World War One battles of Gallipoli, the Somme, and the Holy Land. Some spent their final days at Greenslopes. Veterans of more recent conflicts including Malaya, Korea, and Vietnam have shared experiences with veterans from their parents and grandparents generations.
Now a private hospital, Greenslopes continues the tradition of providing a special quality of care and attention for Australian veterans and their widows.
The story of the Greenslopes hospital is more than a chronicle of building and medical advances. It is a slice of Australian national history a permanent vestige of personal stories about the people who risked life and limb for their country, and about those who cared for them.
1939
THE NEED FOR MILITARY HOSPITALS
In October 1939, a month after war was declared, military officials estimated that Australia would need 3,000 additional hospital beds by early 1940 to care for war casualties. Instead of acquiring existing properties and converting them to hospitals (as had happened in World War One), the Department of Defence planned to develop purpose-built military hospitals one in each of the state capitals. Disputes between Commonwealth government bureaucrats delayed decisive action on the new hospitals for almost a year.
The Greenslopes site for Brisbane's military hospital bounded by Newdegate, Nicholson, Denman, and Peach Streets at Greenslopes was first surveyed in the latter half of the 19th century. Originally owned by businessman T B Stephens, the 8-hectare (20-acre) site had been used mainly for farming. In 1919, just after World War One, the War Services Homes Commission purchased the site, intending to construct houses for returned servicemen. Still vacant in 1940, this site was considered ideal for the construction of the proposed military hospital.
1940
GREENSLOPES SITE IS CHOSEN
The decision to build at Greenslopes was announced in August 1940. The local Brisbane newspaper, The Courier Mail, described the site as commanding a fine view of the city. It was readily accessible by trams that ran a few hundred metres away along Logan Road.
Melbourne-based architects Stephenson and Turner were appointed to draw up the master plan. In Brisbane, local architects Hall and Philips handled working drawings, contract letting, and day-to-day management. (Hall and Philips had designed the iconic Brisbane City Hall and Tattersall's Club.)
A young surveyor, Clem Jones (later Lord Mayor of Brisbane) was commissioned to survey the site in November 1940.
The plan was to initially accommodate 200 patients, and then progressively develop the complex to accommodate 800 patients.
1941
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
Site excavation at Greenslopes began in May 1941. Construction of three pavilion-style brick ward blocks and the boiler house began in July.
Each ward was to house 64 beds half either side of a central nursing station. Wards were partitioned for groups of four beds. The top half of each partition was glass to allow a clear view of all patients from the nursing station. Each patient was to have a radio point, a bed lamp, and bedside table.
In October 1941, a contract to build the administration block was awarded to Lawson Construction (cost: £71,896). However, construction did not commence until early in 1945.
112TH AUSTRALIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL UNIT FORMED
On Anzac Day, 1941, the 112th Australian General Hospital unit (112 AGH) assumed responsibility for treating all military personnel in the Brisbane area. During construction at Greenslopes, 112 AGH was accommodated at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds, and later moved into 'Yungaba' at Kangaroo Point which had been an immigration hostel.
1942
GREENSLOPES OPENS
On 2 February 1942, the first 35 patients were admitted to the Hospital and on 14 March the headquarters of the 112 AGH unit was relocated to Greenslopes. By 9 April, Kangaroo Point had been closed and the entire hospital unit was accommodated at Greenslopes. Patients with tropical diseases (such as malaria, dengue fever and intestinal diseases) often outnumbered the wounded.
A newspaper report described the interiors of the three new wards as having Écream walls and beds, stained woodwork, and pale green ceilings and floor coverings. The hospital boasted all modern conveniences, including mechanical dishwashers and electrically heated food trolleys. According to one patient, ‘Home was never like this'.
The wards were given a distinctly Queensland character with 3-metre (10-feet) wide verandas enclosed by triple-hung windows.
The hospital's staff complement was drawn from the Australian Army Medical Corps, Australian Army Nursing Service, and Voluntary Aid Detachments. VADs, were trained by the Red Cross, and later became the Australian Army Medical Womens Service.
The wards were built by H & F Haven (cost: £38,600). The boiler house was built by W. Greene (cost: £7,597). Separate contracts were let for buildings to accommodate staff.
Following the bombing of Darwin, the wisdom of locating a base hospital in Brisbane was now being questioned. Plans to build three additional permanent wards (Wards 4, 5, and 6) were scrapped in favour of temporary wards that could be more quickly constructed and, if necessary, relocated. Construction began in April 1942.
Also built in 1942 were a temporary operating theatre, patients mess, occupational therapy building, and a canteen.
1943
GREENSLOPES EXPANDED. CENTAUR TORPEDOED & SUNK.
In May 1943, the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was torpedoed off the southern tip of Moreton Island. To provide beds for severely burned survivors, Greenslopes patients who were not bed-ridden were shifted onto canvas chairs. Extra staff was rostered on duty. The only nurse on the Centaur to survive the sinking was Sister Ellen (Nell) Savage. She was taken to 112 AGH Greenslopes to recover. She was later awarded the George Medal for her gallantry.
Additions to Greenslopes in 1943 included three new timber pavilions (Wards 7, 8, & 9), quarters for nurses and wardsmen, an artificial limb factory, and storage buildings.
The first occupants of Ward 7 were wounded Japanese prisoners of war (POWs). A marquee was erected at the back of Ward 7 to accommodate other wounded enemy POWs.
In October 1943, the hospital complex was officially renamed 112 (Brisbane) General Military Hospital.
1944
THE CHAPEL & RED CROSS FACILITY
The hospital's chapel was completed in 1944. It has a Catholic altar and confessional at one end and a Protestant altar at the other. Apart from the imitation-tile roof (which replaced the original asbestos sheeting), the chapel remains essentially unchanged.
In May, the Greenslopes hospital was registered as a training school with the Queensland Nurses and Masseurs Registration Board.
Greenslopes was the only military hospital without a Red Cross patient recreation facility. The War Services Homes Commission initially rejected the Red Cross's request for adjacent land. But, after the Queensland Premier intervened, the Red Cross was allocated land to build a facility that included a hall, library, billiards room, reading rooms, handcraft store, workroom, and storeroom.
1945
POWs RETURN
By February 1945, construction of the administration building had begun. Three new permanent wards increased the hospitals capacity to 600 patients. Other work included additions to the boiler house, a new laundry block, minor ancillary buildings, and additional roads and services.
Among the returning Australians were ex-POWs who had survived atrocious conditions in slave labour camps, including those on the Burma railway and in Japanese coal mines. They were emaciated shadows of the healthy people who had left Australia a few years before.
An army sergeant, also a patient at Greenslopes, recalls a despondent young ex-POW telling him: I must be in pretty bad nick. My parents didn't know me. They said G'day to me in the corridor and kept walking.
Medical and surgical advances kept Greenslopes at the forefront of treatment methods. Services were extended to include facio/cranial and plastic surgery, new amputation methods, and new treatments for gunshot wounds. A blood bank was also established at Greenslopes.
1946-47
MAINTAINING THE TRADITION AT GREENSLOPES
In 1946, the hospital had a staff of 900 caring for up to1,120 patients.
Throughout the war, Greenslopes patients were enlisted personnel. In April 1946, the Repatriation Commission took over a ward at the hospital for discharged personnel. It was agreed that, when there was a ratio of six repatriation patients to four enlisted patients, the commission would assume full responsibility for the hospital. This trigger ratio occurred in 1947. With the change in management responsibility, the hospital was renamed Repatriation General Hospital (Greenslopes).
Patients from the old Repatriation General Hospitalat Windsor were progressively relocated to Greenslopes. War widows were also treated as part of the nations commitment to ex-service personnel.
While healing traumatised bodies and minds, the hospital also prepared ex-service personnel to return to productive new roles in post-war society. The hospitals education therapy department, for instance, offered training in carpentry and other trade skills.
1950s
Further development at Greenslopes provided for new or expanded medical, surgical, and psychiatric services. An extension for a dispensary was added to the ground floor of the administration buildings eastern side. The second floor was extended the full length of the building, and other extensions were made to the rear of the building.
1960s-70s
The first dedicated allied health building in a repatriation hospital was opened at Greenslopes in 1968. The $200,000 building housed occupational therapy, physiotherapy, educational therapy services, a gymnasium, and rooms for social workers and chaplains.
An 8-bed intensive therapy unit was also built, but has since been demolished. In the twenty-five years from 1945, the general appearance of the hospital did not change noticeably, although the wards were repainted to cover the dark and unwelcoming mission brown colour with an attractive light green.
UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL
Greenslopes became a university teaching hospital in 1970. The University of Queenslands Departments of Medicine and Surgery moved to Greenslopes in 1972 and occupied teaching facilities vacated by the School of Nursing. The departments were to remain there until a further extension to the administration block in 1992 provided them with modern accommodation.
Diagnostic ultrasound services were established at the hospital in 1974. The following year, a control centre was set up to manage the patient transport system.
In 1976, outpatient services were relocated from the old Taxation Building in the city centre to the new Outpatient Clinic Block at Greenslopes. In 1979, the old repatriation hospital at Windsor (‘Rosemount') was closed and its patients were transferred to Greenslopes.
1980s
MULTISTOREY WING
The multistorey wing, costing $11.5 million, was opened in 1980. Though this modern, efficient, air-conditioned building provides year-round comfort, some patients felt that it lacked the character of the old wards with their verandas and triple-hung windows that let in fresh air.
In the mid-1980s, the old ambulance bay, the gatehouse, and a number of other buildings were demolished and a 24-hour casualty department was established.
PRIVATISATION OF REPATRIATION HOSPITALS
In the late-1980s, the Commonwealth government's Department of Veterans' Affairs, anticipating a decline in demand for its services, began looking at alternatives to owning and operating repatriation hospitals. Three options were considered: hospitals could be integrated with the state health systems, privatised, or closed.
The Commonwealth offered Greenslopes Hospital to the Queensland Government free of charge, together with ongoing funding to treat veterans at Greenslopes or at any other state government hospital. However, the Queensland government declined to take up the offer.
The Returned Services League (RSL) in Queensland initially opposed the privatisation of the hospital. But, after the Queensland Government rejected the Commonwealth's offer, the RSL agreed that privatisation was preferable to closure.
1990s
THE DIGGERSDOZEN
The ‘Diggers Dozen', a group of volunteer workers, was established at Greenslopes in 1990 as Friends of the Hospital. In May of 1990, meetings were held to determine how volunteers would be recruited, what their duties and responsibilities would be, and how they would be trained.
Sixteen volunteers were present at the formal launch of the Friends of the Hospital on 28 May 1990 including the groups prime movers Glenis Jay, Margaret Bawden, and Dr. John Sparrow, and following a successful six-months trial period, the Diggers Dozen became an integral part of the hospitals daily functioning.
When Ramsay Health Care took over the running of Greenslopes in 1995, volunteers were concerned that they might be disbanded. However, the new management enthusiastically embraced the work of the volunteers and continues to encourage and support their valuable contributions.
GREENSLOPES IS PRIVATISED
The announcement to put Greenslopes out to tender was made in 1994. The successful tenderer, Ramsay Health Care, assumed responsibility for Greenslopes in January 1995.
The contract ensures that, although the hospital could now take in private patients, veterans would continue to receive the quality and diversity of services provided prior to the sale. Renamed Greenslopes Private Hospital, the complex continues as a university teaching hospital, partly funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
IMPROVING QUALITY OF CARE
Through the latter half of the 1990s, Ramsay Health Care continued developing the hospital campus, adding and improving facilities and services. Some of the early additions included:
- the Keith Payne Unit, a 30-bed psychiatric unit opened in 1996
- a 40-bed rehabilitation unit opened in 1997
- a cardiac catheter laboratory opened in 1997
- the Florence Syer Unit, a 30-bed sub-acute unit for patients awaiting nursing home places opened in 1999.
MAJOR NEW CARDIAC FACILITY
In 1999, Greenslopes Private Hospital introduced cardiac surgery. By 2002, the Hospital was the major provider of cardiac services on Brisbane's southside.
RAMSAY HEALTH CARE
Ramsay Health Care was founded by Paul Ramsay in 1964. By 2002, with a portfolio of 25 hospitals throughout Australia, Ramsay Health Care was Australias second largest private hospital operator. Following the takeover of the Repatriation General Hospital, Paul Ramsay made a commitment to retain the essential character of the hospital and its strong traditions of veteran care. As part of this commitment, Ramsay Health Care built Anzac memorials and dedicated displays that perpetuate the hospitals history and heritage.
KEITH PAYNE UNIT
Prior to 1996, psychiatric inpatient services at Greenslopes were housed in one of the old pavilion ward blocks. In that year, Ramsay Health Care opened a modern, air-conditioned facility offering inpatient, outpatient, day-hospital services, and recreational areas.
Warrant Officer Keith Payne was, in 1969, a member of the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam. On 24 May, the South Vietnamese battalion he commanded was attacked by a large force of North Vietnamese. Although wounded several times, Payne organised a fighting withdrawal and saved the lives of many of his men. In 1970, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth presented WO Payne with the Victoria Cross aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia in Brisbane.
FLORENCE SYER UNIT
In 1999 Ramsay Health Care recommissioned one of the old pavilion wards as interim accommodation facility for patients waiting for places in nursing homes. The refurbished unit was opened in June 1999 and named the Florence Syer Unit. Mrs Syer was present at the opening ceremony.
The naming of the ward commemorates her remarkable war service. One of many Australian nurses evacuated from Singapore in 1942, she survived the sinking of her ship and imprisonment by the Japanese. Mrs Syer died in Greenslopes Private Hospital in July 2002 at the age of 86.
The 21st century
AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST PRIVATE HOSPITAL
By 2001, with 437 beds, Greenslopes was the largest private hospital in Queensland. The multistorey wing, the main patient accommodation area of the Hospital, was shared by veterans and private patients. However, the demand for private hospital accommodation in a growing Brisbane was urgent and increasing.
In December 2001, the Board of Ramsay Health Care approved the most significant new development since the multistorey wing was opened in 1980. The new facility (opened in March 2003) brought the total number of beds to 527 making Greenslopes Private Hospital the largest private hospital in Australia. The construction, managed by John Holland Pty Ltd, was completed in 12 months. The building incorporates ninety private rooms, four operating theatres, and thirty-two onsite medical consulting suites.
PROTECTING THE TRADITION
Over time, the number of war veterans and widows needing care at the hospital will decline as age takes its toll. However, the spirit of the heroic generations of men and women who have known Greenslopes as their hospital will live on.
Today, everyone working at Greenslopes Private Hospital is aware of the special place the hospital has in personal and national histories. Ramsay Health Care has established permanent memorials at the Hospital to host Anzac Day dawn ceremonies and other significant days of remembrance lest we forget the stories of courage, endurance, and service.
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