Hobart General Hospital Its Early History As early as possible after Lieuten· a \•ailable to him for erecting a perman· ant-Governor Collins began his settle· ent structure. It was not till the merit at Hobart Town, on the memor· 8th February, 1812, that a decision was able 21st :February, 1804, a marquee come to at Sydney to erect a hospital was doubtless pitched for the purposes building here. It is also highly nec­ of the General Hospital. Where or essary, writes Governor Macquarie on when the marquee was erected has not that date to ¥ajor Geils the command­ yet been ascertained from the published ant, that a General Hospital for the records. Possibly this important item rec::Jption of the --sick convicts and of information may be gleaned some other persons in the settlement who can· day. At the beginning of its history n :)t. otherwise prQcure medical atten· the General Hospital was staffed with tion should be erected at Hobart Town . a principal surgeon and two assistant a':l soon as the Government can eon· surgeons in the persons of William ve-niently command the means of doing !'Anson, Matthew Bowden, and Wil­ so. Until the latter part of the year liam Hopley. From the 27th July, 18C8 there was not, seemingly, a sett.Ier 1804, the assistant surgeon on duty at here with medical qualifications. In the hospital was required to attend all t:lC last quarter of that year the local punishments which might occur among co~ulemnation of the ship Dubuc, a the prisoners. Hopley, it may be stat­ South Sea whaler1 was the happy ed here, came hither with a wife and mc-flns of funrnishing the settlement two children. Bowden came from Port wi ~h its first private doctor in the per· l:"hillip in the storeship Ocean with son of Thomas William Birch, who ar· Lieutenant-Governor Collins and the ri\·ed here on the 2nd May, 1808. This first detachment numbering 259 persons gentleman waS an Englishman who had of all ranks and classes. Hopley, and t.:erved as medical officer on the Dubuc perhaps I'Alison too, remained at Port till her condt'mnation as an unsea­ Phillip unt_il the removal of the second worthy vessel After that event he detachment, under Lieutenant Sladden, d(.cidid to settle in Hobart Town, where which comprised about 74.persons and lw married a settler's daughter, fol1ow­ arrived _here in the ship Ocean on the C(l rommereial and pastoral pursuits, 25th ,Tune. Wheth·er the General Ho!!­ and built Macquarie House in 1814, be· pital was set up at Robart Town be­ sirles relieving suffering humanity, very fore or after the landing of the second often freely, at his popular surgery in detnchment is nllknown at the present M acquarie Street. A few sceptical time. Nor is it known so far whether per~ons are disinclined to recognise T. the marquee for the patients was pitch­ W. Birch as a qualified medical man; ed on Hunter Island or within ''the but that attitude of mind cannot be <~amp,'' possibly on a .site not far dis­ maintained in the face of im official tant from what was designated in print recognition of his professional status. ~ welve years later as Hospital Hill. On the 6th September, 1808, William Wherever the General Hospital was es­ Hopley, second assistant surgeon at the tablished by the Lieutenant-Governor, General Hospital, requested leave of ab­ there it remained during his command sence to enable him to proceed to of the settlement. Certainly in his England for the recovery of his health: time neither ma.terjal nol' JabDUl' was Thereupon thf' IAtmtenant-Gov~rnor oT- • dared a survey on the sick doctor by of the detae-hment, with kitchens and a board of three surgeons, namely, :t small military hospital, after you William 1 'Anson and Matthew Bowden finish the additions and repairs now from the General Hospital, and Thomas making to tho chureh and Government Birch, surgeon on the ship Dubuc. House- for yntu· aecommodation. These These professional ~entlemen, his Hon· Barr'acks and also a Civil General Hos­ our required and d1rected to visit Sur· pital and new gaol must first be ere<'.t· geon Hopley, enquire into the state of ed and completely finished before any his health, and report to him under npw Gov<>rnmf'tlt House is_attemptrd to their hands whether they thought it h(' built. necessary tbat he should be invalided According to a summar~· of the rle· nnd sent to England. The report of ~patches frm•t Lieutenant.·Governo! these recognised surgeons may be seen Da,:e~· to lteatlquarters, he wrote on in the first volume of the Historical the 3rd May, 1815 a despatch, in which Records of Tasmania. In those br he :i.nnoun<'ed to his Excellency his in­ off times the title of ''doctor'' was not tention of building a new General Ho!!­ nften used at Robart Town or Sydney pital on an eligible situation, but not in official documents. The gene~al tlJC· ont' fixed on by the Governor. practice was to describe Matthew Bow­ Oul_v n snnunary of the despatch was den, for example, as Mr. Bowden, . and avaibblc to Dr. Watson, but in the first. sometimes as Surgeon Bowden. volume of the Historical Records of During his visit to the Derwent in Tasmania he pi'i<lts the Governor rs November, 1811, Governor Macquari(' command on this mbjert to Lieuten­ selected sites- for the erection of a an.t-GovNnor Dav1·y. I understa1ld }Jermanent hospital and gaol. The from thf' Deputy Surveyor of Lands. site for the hospital is mentioned by writes his Ex~~dlt'nf•.y on the 12th De­ him to Major Geils in a despatch writ1 er:mlll'r, l8l!i, thpt you have changccl ten on the 8th February, 1812. The the sitP orit,-rina-lly marked out and in­ phlce I pointed out to the Inspector t.enflNl h;v me for P.recting a new hos­ of Works most eligible for those two pital on. I must therefore desire that public buildings,, says his Excellency, the. hospital: shall not be erected on is a rising airy piece of· ground on the anv other site than the one directed anrl west side of the rivulet near the pres· apProved of' by nH'. I do not allow ent lumber yard, and it is there they Surgeon Luttrell t.o interfere in cases Ir.ust· be erected whenever it mav be of this kind, and I shall expect an in· convenient to eolllmenee building there­ stant compliance with my orders on this on. I shall send you plans and ele­ point. How the Lieutenant-Governor vations of both these -public buildings replierl to this censure is not known, at- some future period, and long before for after the conclusion of his admin­ yon can commence bu'lding them. AR istration, h~ sent most of his official soon as sufficient matmials are colleeted pnpers to his friend and patron, the for the barracks for the officers and carl of Harrowhy. The task of raising soldiers, you must next prepare the a permanent home _for t.he_Genernl Hos­ necessary materials for the General pital was inherited by Lieutenant­ Hospital and the gaoJ...,...brick for the GovernoT Sorell. I leave it now to former and stone for the latter-each your own discretiOn, writes the Gover­ to be only one story high. The exact nor to him on the 3rd June, 1818, to position of the site is marked on the employ whatever number of convict plan of Hobart Town approved by his labou~ers on the Government Public Excelleney here on tho 30th November, Works at the Derwent that may b{' 1811. A copy of the plan is given at deemed actually necessaTy to complete page 64 of the Walker Memorial-Vol· those now in progress, including a new ume, which should find a place in the Geperal Hospital, and completing the home of every son of. the soil. On the Militarv Barracks. It was not till the 1st June, 1812, his Excellency recurs to 18th necembEir2 1818, that his Honour the subject. I hope, he remarks to . Vias in a position to inform his E,;cel­ Major Geils, you will not lose any time lecv that "the foundation of the Col in setting about building the barracks (:m{al Hospital is begun on the plan and on Ba.na.ek Hill for the accOmmodation on the' spot approved by Ymn Excel· leney.'' Th}.s foundation, remarkl!l Dr. tion., Dinner at 3 o'clock; tickets, 25/1 Watson in a note, was laid on the site which entitlc8 the purchaser to bring of the present General Hospital in Liv­ with him a female partner; paylllent erpool Street, Hobart. to be madC' at the time of receiving In the period from 1818 to at least the card in wheat or moneY. The the 31st March, 1821, the work of the situation cif the house is indicated by' General Hospital was carried on, in thP writer of an historical article rented houses. Probably it was so ac­ wliiCh may be read in the "Mercury" commodated :for some years prior to of the Btl~ JIHH", 18!58. Her Majesty's 1818, but the records of the Police General Hospital is the caption of the Fund for those years are not ,avail­ artiele, ancl, aR the authority of t.h6 ableJ and so the point must remain un­ writer was not impugned at the time, solved, at any rate for the present.