Served the hospital for over 40 years.
In 1978 The Maitland Hospital’s new maternity and intensive care wing was named the Robert Brown ward to commemorate Bob Brown’s long-term contribution to the hospital.
Maitland Mercury, 23 October 1978
(Maitland & District Historical Society Pamphlet files)
Plaque commemorating the opening of the Robert Brown Wing.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 299)
In 2021 the plaque was still on a wall inside Building E - the hexagonal building along High Street.
Also in 2021 Bob Brown’s daughter, Wendy Beasley, lent Trevor Lynch an album about her Dad’s work. Photographs scanned from that album, along with further details from Wendy Beasley, provide the following glimpses of Bob Brown’s life and work.
Bob Brown with his father and siblings, about 1927.
Front row: Noel, father William holding John (Jack), Donald
Back row: Anne, Robert (Bob), James (Jim).
Bob Brown with his father and his four brothers.
Front row: Donald, Jack, Noel.
Back row: Jim, William (father), Bob
Jim, Bob, Anne, Noel and Jack Brown at the opening of the Robert Brown wing of Maitland Hospital, 1978.
Bob Brown was born in Aberdare in 1916. He was the second eldest in a family of five brothers and one sister. His father, William, was an inspector of mines.
In 1928, his Mum passed away and, according to an article in the War Widows Guild Digest (June 2013) his sister Annie, then aged 12, ‘took responsibility for her five younger brothers’.
The family moved to East Maitland in about 1930. Bob attended Maitland Boys’ High School. On leaving school he worked for a firm of accountants in Newcastle before joining the Maitland Hospital staff in 1938 as deputy to the then Secretary, Richard L. Williams. From 1960 to 1981 he was the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer.
Photographs from the album, most probably taken for the Maitland Mercury, capture some public moments and other events.
Click on the photographs to enlarge them and create a slide show.
