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Mater Health Services celebrates 100 years on Mater Hill
Mater Health Services celebrates 100 years on Mater Hill
Friday, 13 August 2010
“… a new hospital is to be built on a hill facing the cool summer breezes, and protected by the by the rising hill behind from the westerly winds.” Brisbane Telegraph, March 1908.
One hundred years ago, on 14 August 1910, the Sisters of Mercy opened a 130-bed private hospital (now known as Aubigny Place) on Mater Hill at South Brisbane.
The 1910 grand ceremony was a much celebrated occasion attended by 8000 people who crammed onto the site to witness Cardinal Moran and Governor Sir William MacGregor officially bless and open the new facility.
The hospital was the vision of Mother Mary Patrick Potter who was determined to build a private fee-paying hospital and a public hospital for the less affluent. She did this by rallying the community and the press at the time to raise the £25,000 needed to build the hospitals.
Since then the site has seen continuous growth and change—the Sisters of Mercy opened the Mater Public Hospital in 1911, Mater Children’s Hospital in 1931 and Mater Mothers’ Hospital in 1960.
Today, Mater is a world-class group of three public and four private hospitals plus the Mater Medical Research Institute.
All of these hospitals were conceived for a specific purpose, caring for patients at every stage of their lives from tiny premature babies to the very elderly.
Mater Health Services Chief Executive Officer Dr John O’Donnell said Mater Hill has become a Brisbane landmark that Queenslanders rely on to provide compassionate, leading-edge health care.
“With each passing decade, Mater has been a health care leader with groundbreaking innovations in technologies, systems, and treatments,” Dr O’Donnell said.
“Now, building upon our solid foundation, Mater has an exciting, promising future as we continue to grow and reach out into the community by providing health care to those who need it, just as our founders did” he said.
For more information about 100 years on Mater Hill visit
www.materhill.org.au
