Royal Canberra Hospital
Encyclopedia
Royal Canberra Hospital was the first hospital in Canberra
, the capital of Australia. It opened in 1914 (a year after the planned city was opened) on the Acton Peninsula
, as the Canberra Community Hospital. It grew to become the major hospital in Canberra before being closed in 1991 and later demolished in 1997.
and medical adviser to the Commonwealth, recommended that a Government hospital be built on a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) site at Acton
which had been reserved for this purpose, with separate facilities for isolation. This was in immediate response to cases of diphtheria
amongst construction workers requiring lengthy isolation and hospitalisation, as well as measles and chicken pox. At this time there were few other public buildings in Canberra
. The interim hospital site was Balmain Crescent in the precincts of the future Australian National University
.
The building, refurbished in the late 1920s, still stands at the intersection of Mills Road leading to the John Curtin School of Medical Research
. It is used by the Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU and a plaque on the front lawn, unveiled in 1978, by the then Minister of Health Mr Ralph Hunt, identifies it as the site of the first public hospital in Canberra.
The Acton Peninsula site originally reserved for the formal Canberra Hospital extended from Canberra House (in 1938 the residence of the British High Commissioner) to the Molonglo River
(Lennox Crossing). Dr. J. Frederick Watson of Gungahlin gave evidence to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works considering construction of the new brick hospital on Acton peninsula. He stated that in determining the size of the hospital, the possibility of a medical school within the proposed university (adjacent to the new hospital) should be borne in mind.
Two nurses who worked at Canberra Community Hospital on Acton
in the 1930s were killed while serving in WWII. Sister Mona Tait, who had been a theatre sister in Canberra, was aboard the Vyner Brooke when it was sunk by the Japanese military and was subsequently amongst those nurses machine-gunned at Radji Beach (see Banka Island massacre
). Sister May Hayman at the outbreak of war was working in the hospital at Gona
in New Guinea
and while fleeing with Allied soldiers was ambushed by a Japanese patrol and bayoneted.
, on 28 January 1941. In March 1942 the Australian Army
requisitioned it for the 2/2 Army General Hospital. Before it could be occupied, the 2/2 AGH was relocated to Queensland
and the United States Armed Forces
were given use of the new Canberra Hospital to treat wounded personnel from their forces in the Pacific. Officers and nurses of the 5th Station Hospital of the United States Army Medical Corps as well as Dutch medical and dental officers treated patients at the site.
In January 1943 the US Army relinquished the hospital, realising it was too far to transport their wounded servicemen. The new hospital was officially opened for civilian use by the Governor General, Lord Gowrie
, on 20 February 1943. The completion of the North Block in 1943 represented the completion of the removal of Canberra Hospital from its Balmain Crescent site to Acton. Bennett House's first stage, known originally as the Nurses' Quarters, was completed in August 1942. New wings were added in 1948 and 1956.
The former H Block (Initial Isolation Ward) was designed by Leighton Irwin, in conjunction with the first major works on the relocated hospital site. H Block was constructed on the site of the original Acton Homestead. It was opened by Lord Gowrie
in 1943. The former Medical Superintendent's Residence was also designed by Leighton Irwin as part of the new hospital and was completed in 1943. It housed the medical superintendent until it closed in the 1996.
The former Isolation Block (Initial TB Ward) was opened in 1947. It was constructed on the site originally occupied by outbuildings of Acton Homestead. It housed both tuberculosis
(TB) and infectious disease
patients, and was separate from other Hospital wards. Treatment of TB particularly relied on provision of well-ventilated, sunny wards, which influenced the design of this particular building. TB (consumption) wards were often called "chalet
s" and this name also applied to the Acton ward. The main external change was the construction of a chapel over the former entry steps and alterations to the west end.
In 1946 Howard Florey administered 25,000 Oxford units of penicillin
to a five month old infant at the hospital with pneumonia
who became one of the youngest children ever treated with the new drug. In 1948 over 700 babies were delivered at the hospital.
epidemic
in Canberra in 1950–1951, many of the cases were from the suburbs of Turner
and O'Connor
and a pre-school and mothercraft centre were closed; a nurse at the isolation ward contracted the disease and died. In 1954 a memorial fountain was built close to the original site of Acton Homestead at the instigation of the Deputy Matron Miss Sylvia Curley, using some stones saved from the demolition of the homestead. The fountain was constructed by the Department of the Interior at a cost of 350 pounds.
Between 1954–1961 the population of Canberra
almost doubled. Plans to construct new main buildings were approved by the hospital board in December 1959. In 1960 a contract was let for additions to the Canberra Community Hospital. The new building required the removal of the Commonwealth Bank and Acton Post Office buildings. The original main building of the hospital was extended and the administrative offices (demolished 1973) were refurbished. Associated with the 1960s redevelopment was the construction of the personnel services unit, the staff dining hall, a courtyard/library, the mortuary, a boiler house and a laundry. Sylvia Curley House, a new nurses' residence, was opened by Dame Pattie Menzies on 17 April 1964. The surrounds of the Sylvia Curley House were designed by Otto Ruzicka, the first landscape architect employed by City Parks in the early 1960s.
During the period between 1959–1989 the Royal Canberra Hospital (RCH) received high praise as a nursing, teaching and community institution. Memorials in the hospital to a considerable number of outstanding people and events exist, including the Mona Tait and May Hayman plaque, the stained glass window erected in memory of Sister Dorothy Bryan, a plaque and operating rooms in the Peter Blaxland Suite, the Edith McHugh Ward in Obstetrics, the Marcus de Laune Faunce
Auditorium and the Carmel Smith Memorial. In 1965 Malcolm Whyte became the foundation professor and head of the hospital's Department of Clinical Science. Notable members of the staff included the renal physician Brian Hurley, the obstetricians Jim McCracken, Moya Blackall, Jeff Harrington (killed in a plane crash when returning to Canberra in 1961), Graham Hart and John Hehir, the emergency physician and intensivist Jim Keaney, the thoracic physician Stephen Nogrady, the cardiologist Howard Peak and the surgeons James, Wearne, Olver, Blaxland, Connors, Andrea, Shanahan, Vance, Leitch, Robson and Hughes. Others were Mr Sid Anderson, Hospital Secretary 1933–1957, Dr Albert Lane, Medical Superintendent 1951–1964 (who had a private loo with an external sign: "Danger, 10,000 volts-do not enter") and Mrs Enid Barnes, Pharmacist 1952–1984. Margaret Sheldon worked as a resident medical officer and then as a senior radiologist at the hospital between 1959 and 1973.
Longstanding members of the hospital board of management during this period included Mr Allan Fraser (Australian politician)
MP for the federal seat of Eden-Monaro and Hospital Board member 1947–1975 (26 years 11 months of total service), Mr JH Pead businessman and Advisory Councillor (1955–1975 – 17 years 2 months), Mr CA Donnelly (1949–1961 – 11 years 10 months), Dr FB Uther (1956–1967 – 11 years 6 months), Dr THJ Harrison (1957–1967 – 10 years 2 months), Mr J Brophy (1944–1957 – 9 years 2 months), Mrs R Inall (1959–1967 – 8 years 3 months) and Mr RH Webster (1967–1975 – 7 years 8 months).
Leader of the Australian Greens
Dr. Bob Brown
was a resident at the Royal Canberra Hospital and has stated that one of his early and formative experiences in civil disobedience
was watching how the senior medical staff at RCH consistently found healthy young men who didn't wish to fight, completely unfit on medical grounds for conscription
into the Australian Army
for the Vietnam War
. Dr Bob Brown was also the founding president of the RASCALS (Residents And Sisters Club for Activities in Leisuretime) lodge established at Jindabyne primarily to allow doctors and nurses from RCH to access skiing activities.
The Rowing Club at RCH was coordinated by Ken Hopkinson, he managing to get RMOs and registrars on the mist-clad water at 6am three mornings a week and organising related fundraising. Such activities, the view of Lake Burley Griffin
, its tree-clad shores and islands on three sides, created a powerful sense of tranquility and goodwill in the atmosphere at RCH.
Walter Burley Griffin
planned that Canberra's hospital be located near its university. This plan took shape with the establishment of the Australian National University
and John Curtin School of Medical Research
(1947). Its links with the RCH became more evident when the Department of Clinical Science was established in 1966 as part of the school but was located at the hospital. A mosaic entitled Metropolis on the wall at the entrance to the tower block commemorated the opening. In the years 1966–1968 Annual Reports list 425 contributions to medical and scientific literature, more than half the publications resulting from work carried out in RCH. Prof. Malcolm Whyte records that: "These can be roughly categorised as 98 relating to the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates and associated diseases, 92 to intestinal diseases and related inflammatory
and immunological processes...65 to thrombosis
production and dissolution and platelet
functions, 62 to malignant hyperpyrexia...More than half of the publications resulted from work carried out in the hospital on the peninsula." Prof. Whyte records that Michael Denborough's research unit on malignant hyperpyrexia remained on the 5th floor of the main block of RCH "until its dying days."
Consultant physician Marcus de Laune Faunce
wrote about the RCH closure: "Towards the end of 1990 many Canberra citizens were either bewildered, angered or saddened as they realised that the Royal Canberra Hospital on Acton Peninsula was soon to be closed...Its staffing structure and organisation were thought to have been planned in advance in step with population needs and the hospital was firmly and warmly placed in the memories and affections of many people...Its beautiful, central position on the lake had been marked by Walter Burley Griffin
on his original plan. After its formative years, it served Canberra for more than three decades as a first-class hospital staffed by hard-working, skilled and caring health workers. With its magnificent site and proximity to the Australian National University
[see Australian National University Medical School
] it had enormous potential as a future teaching hospital reflecting the best of Australian medical services."
The public were encouraged by the ACT Government to watch the controlled demolition of the hospital (see Royal Canberra Hospital implosion
) on 13 July 1997, but a girl (Katie Bender) was killed by flying debris, leading to criticism of the ACT Government and a memorial on the lake foreshore. Shortly after the announcement that a medical school would be established at the adjacent Australian National University, staff at the medical school made a proposal to the National Capital Authority that the old Royal Canberra Hospital hospice and isolation block facilities on Acton Peninsula (which had been heritage listed for a health use) should be leased to the ANU Medical School for teaching and clinical purposes.
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the capital of Australia. It opened in 1914 (a year after the planned city was opened) on the Acton Peninsula
Acton Peninsula
The Acton Peninsula is located on the northern shore of Lake Burley Griffin, in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia.It was created when the lake was artificially built by damming the Molonglo River and excavating around it to create the desired shape.The Royal Canberra Hospital used to...
, as the Canberra Community Hospital. It grew to become the major hospital in Canberra before being closed in 1991 and later demolished in 1997.
Early Years 1912–1939
In 1912, Dr. W. Perrin Norris, Commonwealth Director of QuarantineQuarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
and medical adviser to the Commonwealth, recommended that a Government hospital be built on a 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) site at Acton
Acton, Australian Capital Territory
Acton is a suburb of Canberra, Australia. Acton covers an area west of the CBD, bordered by Black Mountain to the west and Lake Burley Griffin in the south...
which had been reserved for this purpose, with separate facilities for isolation. This was in immediate response to cases of diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
amongst construction workers requiring lengthy isolation and hospitalisation, as well as measles and chicken pox. At this time there were few other public buildings in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. The interim hospital site was Balmain Crescent in the precincts of the future Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
.
The building, refurbished in the late 1920s, still stands at the intersection of Mills Road leading to the John Curtin School of Medical Research
John Curtin School of Medical Research
The John Curtin School of Medical Research is a major biomedical research centre in Australia, and part of the Australian National University, Canberra. The school was founded in 1948, as a result of the vision of Australian Nobel Laureate Sir Howard Florey and Prime Minister John Curtin.The Nobel...
. It is used by the Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU and a plaque on the front lawn, unveiled in 1978, by the then Minister of Health Mr Ralph Hunt, identifies it as the site of the first public hospital in Canberra.
The Acton Peninsula site originally reserved for the formal Canberra Hospital extended from Canberra House (in 1938 the residence of the British High Commissioner) to the Molonglo River
Molonglo River
The Molonglo River rises on the western side of the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales. Its source is on the other side of the mountain range from where the Shoalhaven River rises, in Tallaganda state forest at ~1200 metres altitude...
(Lennox Crossing). Dr. J. Frederick Watson of Gungahlin gave evidence to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works considering construction of the new brick hospital on Acton peninsula. He stated that in determining the size of the hospital, the possibility of a medical school within the proposed university (adjacent to the new hospital) should be borne in mind.
Two nurses who worked at Canberra Community Hospital on Acton
Acton, Australian Capital Territory
Acton is a suburb of Canberra, Australia. Acton covers an area west of the CBD, bordered by Black Mountain to the west and Lake Burley Griffin in the south...
in the 1930s were killed while serving in WWII. Sister Mona Tait, who had been a theatre sister in Canberra, was aboard the Vyner Brooke when it was sunk by the Japanese military and was subsequently amongst those nurses machine-gunned at Radji Beach (see Banka Island massacre
Banka Island massacre
The Bangka Island massacre took place on 16 February 1942, when Japanese soldiers machine gunned 22 Australian military nurses. There was only one survivor....
). Sister May Hayman at the outbreak of war was working in the hospital at Gona
Gona
-History:Gona was the site of an Anglican church and mission.During World War II, Imperial Japanese troops invaded on 21–22 July 1942 and established it as a base. Three missionaries were captured at Gona, Father James Benson, May Hayman and Mavis Parkins. The two women and a six year old boy were...
in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and while fleeing with Allied soldiers was ambushed by a Japanese patrol and bayoneted.
War Years 1940–1947
The foundations for what was then called the "Action Peninsula Hospital" began in August 1940. The foundation stone was laid by the Minister for Health, the Honourable Sir Frederick StewartFrederick Stewart (Australian politician)
Sir Frederick Harold Stewart was an Australian businessman, politician and government minister. His continuing political commitment was to the establishment of a national insurance scheme and the shortening of working hours to improve social conditions during the Great Depression, despite the...
, on 28 January 1941. In March 1942 the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
requisitioned it for the 2/2 Army General Hospital. Before it could be occupied, the 2/2 AGH was relocated to Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
were given use of the new Canberra Hospital to treat wounded personnel from their forces in the Pacific. Officers and nurses of the 5th Station Hospital of the United States Army Medical Corps as well as Dutch medical and dental officers treated patients at the site.
In January 1943 the US Army relinquished the hospital, realising it was too far to transport their wounded servicemen. The new hospital was officially opened for civilian use by the Governor General, Lord Gowrie
Lord Gowrie
Lord Gowrie may refer* Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie* William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie...
, on 20 February 1943. The completion of the North Block in 1943 represented the completion of the removal of Canberra Hospital from its Balmain Crescent site to Acton. Bennett House's first stage, known originally as the Nurses' Quarters, was completed in August 1942. New wings were added in 1948 and 1956.
The former H Block (Initial Isolation Ward) was designed by Leighton Irwin, in conjunction with the first major works on the relocated hospital site. H Block was constructed on the site of the original Acton Homestead. It was opened by Lord Gowrie
Lord Gowrie
Lord Gowrie may refer* Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie* William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie...
in 1943. The former Medical Superintendent's Residence was also designed by Leighton Irwin as part of the new hospital and was completed in 1943. It housed the medical superintendent until it closed in the 1996.
The former Isolation Block (Initial TB Ward) was opened in 1947. It was constructed on the site originally occupied by outbuildings of Acton Homestead. It housed both tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
(TB) and infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
patients, and was separate from other Hospital wards. Treatment of TB particularly relied on provision of well-ventilated, sunny wards, which influenced the design of this particular building. TB (consumption) wards were often called "chalet
Chalet
A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...
s" and this name also applied to the Acton ward. The main external change was the construction of a chapel over the former entry steps and alterations to the west end.
In 1946 Howard Florey administered 25,000 Oxford units of penicillin
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
to a five month old infant at the hospital with pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
who became one of the youngest children ever treated with the new drug. In 1948 over 700 babies were delivered at the hospital.
Growth Years 1948–1980s
There was a poliomyelitisPoliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
in Canberra in 1950–1951, many of the cases were from the suburbs of Turner
Turner, Australian Capital Territory
Turner is a leafy early Canberra suburb, close to Canberra City and the Australian National University ....
and O'Connor
O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory
O'Connor is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the North Canberra district. It was named after Richard Edward O'Connor , who was a judge in the High Court and a founder of the Australian constitution. Street names in O'Connor are named after explorers, Australian flora, legislators and pioneers...
and a pre-school and mothercraft centre were closed; a nurse at the isolation ward contracted the disease and died. In 1954 a memorial fountain was built close to the original site of Acton Homestead at the instigation of the Deputy Matron Miss Sylvia Curley, using some stones saved from the demolition of the homestead. The fountain was constructed by the Department of the Interior at a cost of 350 pounds.
Between 1954–1961 the population of Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
almost doubled. Plans to construct new main buildings were approved by the hospital board in December 1959. In 1960 a contract was let for additions to the Canberra Community Hospital. The new building required the removal of the Commonwealth Bank and Acton Post Office buildings. The original main building of the hospital was extended and the administrative offices (demolished 1973) were refurbished. Associated with the 1960s redevelopment was the construction of the personnel services unit, the staff dining hall, a courtyard/library, the mortuary, a boiler house and a laundry. Sylvia Curley House, a new nurses' residence, was opened by Dame Pattie Menzies on 17 April 1964. The surrounds of the Sylvia Curley House were designed by Otto Ruzicka, the first landscape architect employed by City Parks in the early 1960s.
During the period between 1959–1989 the Royal Canberra Hospital (RCH) received high praise as a nursing, teaching and community institution. Memorials in the hospital to a considerable number of outstanding people and events exist, including the Mona Tait and May Hayman plaque, the stained glass window erected in memory of Sister Dorothy Bryan, a plaque and operating rooms in the Peter Blaxland Suite, the Edith McHugh Ward in Obstetrics, the Marcus de Laune Faunce
Marcus de Laune Faunce
Marcus de Laune "Marc" Faunce, CVO, AM, OBE, FRCP, FRACP was a Canberra consultant physician, head of Royal Canberra Hospital, doctor to five Australian Prime Ministers and six Governors-General of Australia and former Senior Physician Consultant to the RAAF.- Early medical career:Faunce was...
Auditorium and the Carmel Smith Memorial. In 1965 Malcolm Whyte became the foundation professor and head of the hospital's Department of Clinical Science. Notable members of the staff included the renal physician Brian Hurley, the obstetricians Jim McCracken, Moya Blackall, Jeff Harrington (killed in a plane crash when returning to Canberra in 1961), Graham Hart and John Hehir, the emergency physician and intensivist Jim Keaney, the thoracic physician Stephen Nogrady, the cardiologist Howard Peak and the surgeons James, Wearne, Olver, Blaxland, Connors, Andrea, Shanahan, Vance, Leitch, Robson and Hughes. Others were Mr Sid Anderson, Hospital Secretary 1933–1957, Dr Albert Lane, Medical Superintendent 1951–1964 (who had a private loo with an external sign: "Danger, 10,000 volts-do not enter") and Mrs Enid Barnes, Pharmacist 1952–1984. Margaret Sheldon worked as a resident medical officer and then as a senior radiologist at the hospital between 1959 and 1973.
Longstanding members of the hospital board of management during this period included Mr Allan Fraser (Australian politician)
Allan Fraser (Australian politician)
Allan Duncan Fraser CMG was an Australian politician and journalist.Fraser was in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton and brought up in Tasmania. He left State High School, Hobart at 17 to become a journalist on the Hobart Mercury. He worked for the Argus in Melbourne from 1922 to 1929 when he...
MP for the federal seat of Eden-Monaro and Hospital Board member 1947–1975 (26 years 11 months of total service), Mr JH Pead businessman and Advisory Councillor (1955–1975 – 17 years 2 months), Mr CA Donnelly (1949–1961 – 11 years 10 months), Dr FB Uther (1956–1967 – 11 years 6 months), Dr THJ Harrison (1957–1967 – 10 years 2 months), Mr J Brophy (1944–1957 – 9 years 2 months), Mrs R Inall (1959–1967 – 8 years 3 months) and Mr RH Webster (1967–1975 – 7 years 8 months).
Leader of the Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
Dr. Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
was a resident at the Royal Canberra Hospital and has stated that one of his early and formative experiences in civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
was watching how the senior medical staff at RCH consistently found healthy young men who didn't wish to fight, completely unfit on medical grounds for conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
for the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Dr Bob Brown was also the founding president of the RASCALS (Residents And Sisters Club for Activities in Leisuretime) lodge established at Jindabyne primarily to allow doctors and nurses from RCH to access skiing activities.
The Rowing Club at RCH was coordinated by Ken Hopkinson, he managing to get RMOs and registrars on the mist-clad water at 6am three mornings a week and organising related fundraising. Such activities, the view of Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed...
, its tree-clad shores and islands on three sides, created a powerful sense of tranquility and goodwill in the atmosphere at RCH.
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect, who is best known for his role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city...
planned that Canberra's hospital be located near its university. This plan took shape with the establishment of the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
and John Curtin School of Medical Research
John Curtin School of Medical Research
The John Curtin School of Medical Research is a major biomedical research centre in Australia, and part of the Australian National University, Canberra. The school was founded in 1948, as a result of the vision of Australian Nobel Laureate Sir Howard Florey and Prime Minister John Curtin.The Nobel...
(1947). Its links with the RCH became more evident when the Department of Clinical Science was established in 1966 as part of the school but was located at the hospital. A mosaic entitled Metropolis on the wall at the entrance to the tower block commemorated the opening. In the years 1966–1968 Annual Reports list 425 contributions to medical and scientific literature, more than half the publications resulting from work carried out in RCH. Prof. Malcolm Whyte records that: "These can be roughly categorised as 98 relating to the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates and associated diseases, 92 to intestinal diseases and related inflammatory
Inflammation
Inflammation is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process...
and immunological processes...65 to thrombosis
Thrombosis
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss...
production and dissolution and platelet
Platelet
Platelets, or thrombocytes , are small,irregularly shaped clear cell fragments , 2–3 µm in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes. The average lifespan of a platelet is normally just 5 to 9 days...
functions, 62 to malignant hyperpyrexia...More than half of the publications resulted from work carried out in the hospital on the peninsula." Prof. Whyte records that Michael Denborough's research unit on malignant hyperpyrexia remained on the 5th floor of the main block of RCH "until its dying days."
Moves toward closure
In 1989 the Steering Committee for Public Hospitals Development recommended that Woden Valley Hospital (now called Canberra Hospital) be developed as the principal hospital for the ACT. The opening of Calvary Hospital in 1979 precipitated bed closures and staff reductions at RCH. Public concern at the possible closure of RCH resulted in the formation of a group called the ARCH Committee (Augment RCH). It included members of the Residents Rally – medical workers and representatives from the community. In 1989 the Government decided to close RCH and redevelop the site with health facilities. ARCH presented petitions and letters to the ACT Legislative Assembly and 60,000 petitions protested the closure of RCH, which occurred on 27 November 1991.Consultant physician Marcus de Laune Faunce
Marcus de Laune Faunce
Marcus de Laune "Marc" Faunce, CVO, AM, OBE, FRCP, FRACP was a Canberra consultant physician, head of Royal Canberra Hospital, doctor to five Australian Prime Ministers and six Governors-General of Australia and former Senior Physician Consultant to the RAAF.- Early medical career:Faunce was...
wrote about the RCH closure: "Towards the end of 1990 many Canberra citizens were either bewildered, angered or saddened as they realised that the Royal Canberra Hospital on Acton Peninsula was soon to be closed...Its staffing structure and organisation were thought to have been planned in advance in step with population needs and the hospital was firmly and warmly placed in the memories and affections of many people...Its beautiful, central position on the lake had been marked by Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect, who is best known for his role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city...
on his original plan. After its formative years, it served Canberra for more than three decades as a first-class hospital staffed by hard-working, skilled and caring health workers. With its magnificent site and proximity to the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
[see Australian National University Medical School
Australian National University Medical School
The Australian National University Medical School is a graduate medical school that received the Australian Medical Council accreditation for the M.B., B.S. program in November 2003. Under the leadership of the Foundation Dean, Professor Paul Gatenby, the first cohort of students commenced in...
] it had enormous potential as a future teaching hospital reflecting the best of Australian medical services."
The public were encouraged by the ACT Government to watch the controlled demolition of the hospital (see Royal Canberra Hospital implosion
Royal Canberra Hospital implosion
The Royal Canberra Hospital implosion was a failed building implosion with lethal consequences. The implosion occurred on 13 July 1997, when the city's superseded hospital buildings at Acton Peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin were demolished to make way for the National Museum of...
) on 13 July 1997, but a girl (Katie Bender) was killed by flying debris, leading to criticism of the ACT Government and a memorial on the lake foreshore. Shortly after the announcement that a medical school would be established at the adjacent Australian National University, staff at the medical school made a proposal to the National Capital Authority that the old Royal Canberra Hospital hospice and isolation block facilities on Acton Peninsula (which had been heritage listed for a health use) should be leased to the ANU Medical School for teaching and clinical purposes.