Royal South Sydney Hospital was a hospital in the southern Sydney suburb of Zetland, New South Wales, Australia.
Initial efforts to open a hospital in South Sydney began in 1908 when fundraising efforts by local residents saw James Joynton Smith, local businessman and racecourse owner, elected as provisional president of a future hospital. In 1912, construction of a 25 bed public hospital began and was opened in 1913. in 1917, the title of Royal was bestowed upon the hospital by the King, and capacity was expanded to 110 beds the following year.
In 1976, the present brick buildings were constructed and opened, and the hospital began to specialise in rehabilitation, orthopaedics and community health. In 1991, the hospital merged with the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals. General hospital services, including (controversially) the emergency department were slowly wound down until only community services operated from the location until 2003, when the hospital finally closed and the site was transferred to the South Sydney City Council (later, City of Sydney council).
The site currently lies disused, it is anticipated that the hospital will be included as part of the Green Square town square development.
Famous quotes containing the words royal, south, sydney and/or hospital:
“The captain sat in a commodore’s hat
And dined in a royal way
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gummery bread each day.”
—Charles Edward Carryl (1841–1920)
“...I always said if I lived to get grown and had a chance, I was going to try to get something for my mother and I was going to do something for the black man of the South if it would cost my life; I was determined to see that things were changed.”
—Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)
“You can’t appreciate home till you’ve left it, money till it’s spent, your wife till she’s joined a woman’s club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town.”
—O. Henry [William Sydney Porter] (1862–1910)
“The sun his hand uncloses like a statue,
Irrevocably: thereby such light is freed
That all the dingy hospital of snow
Dies back to ditches.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)