History of Rockhampton Base Hospital

Rockhampton Base Hospital is an historic hospital at Canning Street, The Range, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1867. The hospital's medical superintendent's residence (built in 1936) and Therapies Block (also known as the Outpatients Clinic and Sister Kenny Clinic, built in 1938) were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 November 1997.HistoryThe Rockhampton Hospital site was established in 1867, and was the second site of a hospital in the city. The extant buildings on the site date from the twentieth century. The parts of the hospital which are considered to be of cultural heritage significance include a former Outpatients Department incorporating a purpose built Kenny Clinic dating from 1938; a former nurses' quarters dating from 1929 and a medical superintendent's residence constructed in 1936, along with a substantial brick fence on the Canning Street boundary of the hospital.A hospital, named the Port Curtis and Leichhardt District Hospital, was established in Rockhampton in 1858, and in 1867 a decision was made to relocate the hospital to a more elevated site on the Athelstane Range to the south of the town centre. A large two storeyed brick building was constructed on the new site to the design of local architect, John Thomas Thorne. This was extended on the late 1870s and additional buildings were constructed on the site in the 1880s all to the design of another Rockhampton architect, John William Wilson.