30. Hospital - 1941

The first Broken Hill hospital, built in 1887 for £260, was a wooden structure with six beds. The original hospital was on the site of the present Broken Hill goal.   

In 1888, in a three-month period, 128 deaths were recorded from typhoid. The construction of a new hospital therefore became urgent. A stone complex was built on this site by R Honey for £3,566 and opened by Sir Henry Parkes in June 1889. Sections of this early hospital complex remain.  

A new section of the hospital was erected between 1939 and 1941 at a cost of £250,000 and it became the first fully air-conditioned hospital in NSW. During this period one of Broken Hill’s first female doctors, the pioneering Dr. Franziska Schlink, practiced here until 1948 when she went into private practice. 

The original building was demolished in 1998, unsuitable for adaptation because of asbestos. The new hospital was completed in 2000. The design choice of corrugated iron and masonry is deliberately sympathetic to Broken Hill’s historical context. 

Audio transcript available.