Imaging prints.
Prints on the walls of the Imaging wait area in the New Maitland Hospital, January 2022.
(Photograph: Rob Cleworth)
On the walls of the Imaging wait area in the New Maitland Hospital are a number of prints of mid-twentieth century photographs of the hospital.
The images were produced by printing from original photoengraving blocks held in the Maitland Hospital Collection. They tell stories about mid-twentieth century aspects of the hospital that were seen to highlight its work and events .
It is fitting that these pixelated and evocative images of the past created with old technology can be viewed while waiting to have x-rays and other images taken with the latest technology.
Children’s ward, 1950s.
Smiling faces, children eating, an older girl reading to an intrigued boy, chenille and plaid dressing gowns: a positive image of the children’s ward.
Visit No separate children’s ward for a brief history of the children’s ward at Maitland Hospital.
Feeding the boiler, 1950s
Until the late twentieth century, a tall chimney stack towered above the hospital buildings. Releasing sooty smoke from the furnaces that fired the boiler, it was part of the complex network of machinery and services that powered and maintained the hospital.
Visit Latest devices to find out more about the hospital’s chimney stack.
Aftermath of the 1955 flood.
The view is from the end of the Long Bridge. The hospital is in the background. The debris, the flood waters, and the woman in the foreground surveying the damage are reminders of the devastating impact of the 1955 flood and the other floods that are part of Maitland’s history. In 1955 some of the emergency assistance was managed from the hospital grounds.
From looking at the photograph, flood expert Chas Keys suggests that ‘judging by the water… the flood hadn’t finished ‘.
View 1955 flood for memories and images of the 1955 flood.
Preparing for building the new nurses’ residence, late 1950s.
Throughout the 20th century, the hospital continued to expand to accommodate a growing population and an increasingly diverse range of health services. Here a group of nurses watch as the land is cleared for their new residence.
Visit Built-in furniture for details about the building and use of the new nurses’ residence.
Women’s surgical ward, early 1940s.
The ward followed the Nightingale model that became outdated later in the century. There are a number of beds in the one room, and a nurses’ station - indicated by the washbasin - in the middle.
The photograph was one of a number used in the booklet Maitland Hospital 1842-1942 published to mark the hospital’s centenary, and to celebrate its achievements and modern facilities.
Visit and browse the copy of Maitland Hospital 1842-1942 available through Maitland City Library’s Picture Maitland.
Preliminary Training School, 1954.
Maitland Hospital was registered for training nurses from 1902 until nurse education moved to the tertiary education sector in the 1980s. In this photograph, taken by Model Studios of Maitland, the trainee nurses pose behind their desks with their nurse educator, Sister Mavis Green.
Visit The way we were for a timeline of key dates in the history of nursing at Maitland Hospital.
Inspecting nursing staff, November 1942.
The occasion was the centenary of the hospital and the opening of a new outpatients department. The photograph shows the NSW Governor Lord Wakehurst inspecting a nurses’ guard of honour in the hospital grounds. It also provides a glimpse of the landscaped and praised hospital gardens that were created in the 1930s.
Visit A century of service for more details about the hospital centenary.
Visit Render the hospital beautiful for views and descriptions of the hospital gardens.
Children and staff admire the fish tank in the children’s ward, 1950s.
Keith Howard, paediatrician at the hospital from 1979 to 2014, remembers ‘an aquarium of colourful fish’ donated by local GP Dr Wilson Kwa’.
Visit No separate children’s ward for more details about the children’s ward at the hospital.
Visit Printing from blocks to find out more about the process used to print the images.