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McKellar Wing Hamilton Hospital

Location Foster Street HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire File Number HAMDS155 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/1] 27236 McKellar Wing Hamilton

Statement of Significance

SIGNIFICANCE: Major element with the hospital complex and a critical development in its history and the provision of maternity care and training

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
McKellar Wing Hamilton Hospital
Foster Street
This large complex has regional significance for its architectural interest as a hospital with diverse components constructed over a long period from the 1860s to 1980s. It has historical significance for its important role within the Western District region and for its associations with a number of prominent local doctors including Dr David Laidlaw, who was Medical Superintendent in the pre-1920 period and Dr Samuel Fitzpatrick who replaced him. (i) The complex has social significance for its replacement, in 1904, of male warders with female nurses. (ii) The hospital also has industrial importance as a local employer and in the 1980s was the largest single employer in the town. (iii)

The turn of the century saw the establishment of the McKellar Hospital, a maternity wing, which became the second in Victoria to train midwives. (iv) The building was donated by the daughters of the prominent pastoralist, Thomas McKellar (1819-1900), Jane, Rachel, Catharine and Mary, in memory of their father. As a public hospital it was generally used by poorer people with the more affluent giving birth at home or at private hospitals such as St Ronan's. (v)

The building is in the fashionable Queen Anne style, with some Federation modifications, and it continues the architectural development of the earlier buildings in the complex. The McKellar wing may have been designed by Frank Hammond who did other work at the hospital at this time. It seems to have had a sense of function in its design, the large windows letting in plenty of light for example. Although it has been substantially up-graded internally, the exterior remains relatively intact and the building is in good condition.

FOOTNOTES
i Garden, D, Hamilton, p 215.
ii Garden, D, Hamilton, p 127, Australasian, 2 May 1903 (illustration).
iii Garden, D, Hamilton, p 238.
iv Hamilton Spectator, June 1906, 3 Jan 1907.
v Garden, p 171.