Maryborough Baby Clinic is a heritage-listed former health clinic at 445 Kent Street, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by the Queensland Works Department and built in 1924. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 4 December 2020.
History The former Maryborough Baby Clinic was built in 1924, and is situated on the prominent corner of Kent and Lennox streets, opposite the Maryborough City Hall. Following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922, which was part of a movement to improve the health of mothers and babies, the clinic was one of ten regional clinics built by the Queensland Government throughout the state in the early 1920s. Constructed to a standard, high-quality design by the Department of Public Works, the Maryborough Baby Clinic remains highly intact. The clinic served the Maryborough community until its closure in the mid-1990s.
Maryborough is a regional centre north of Brisbane, and forms part of the traditional land of the Butchulla (Badjala) people. The original township of Maryborough was situated further west upstream on the Mary River, after wharves were established there in 1847–8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852, the growing town was gradually relocated further downstream where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed, and by March 1861 Maryborough was declared a municipality. During the late 1860s and 1870s, Maryborough developed rapidly as the port for the nearby gold rushes in the Gympie area. By the 1920s, Maryborough had a population of more than 10,000 people and was a major regional centre.
In the mid-19th century, deaths of children under five comprised 50 percent of all deaths. While this had been reduced to 11 per cent by the turn of the century, this was still too high. Dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera, diphtheria and typhoid were the main causes of death in the late 19th century. Mrs Mary McConnel, formerly of Cressbrook Station in the Brisbane Valley, initiated the establishment of the first children's hospital in 1878 in Brisbane, the second such hospital in Australia. The first resident medical officer for the Brisbane Children's Hospital, Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner, was appointed in 1889. Turner's early work was in the eradication of diphtheria. Through his collaboration with Brisbane doctor LN Ashworth, their use of the antitoxin led to a significant drop in the death rate from diphtheria between January 1895 and November 1896. Other significant medical advances made by Brisbane-based doctors include the identification of hookworm as the cause of filariasis, the introduction of a test to identify typhoid and the identification of lead in paint as a significant factor in lead poisoning of children, an issue which required a long public campaign to reduce the lead content in paint.Heritage Branch, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Report: Temple of the Babes, Maternal and Child Welfare Clinics in Queensland - A Study of the Standard Design Regional Clinics Built Between 1923 and 1930, 2011, pp.3-7.
Despite these advances, infant mortality still remained high, being 10.68 per cent of all deaths in 1892 and 10.91 per cent in 1901. Diarrhoeal disease was still a major factor and there was a higher death rate during the summer months, many of which could be attributed to poor infant feeding. Dr Turner embarked on another public health campaign, in educating mothers in the hygienic preparation of food, particularly for those infants not breast fed.Thearle, John and Helen Gregory, "Saving the Children: Brisbane Medical Triumphs of the 1890s", in Brisbane History Group Papers No 3, Brisbane Housing, Health, The River and The Arts, 1985, pp.71 - 77.
The early 1920s heralded a major public health campaign by the Queensland Government following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922. As part of a national and international movement to improve the health of mothers and babies, baby clinics were established throughout Queensland.Selby, Wendy, "Maternity Hospitals and Baby Clinics" in Fevers and Frontiers, John Pearn and Mervyn Cobcroft (eds), Brisbane, Amphion Press, p.199Maternity Act of 1922, Government Gazette, 1922, Vol 2, pp. 1047 - 1049. Under the stewardship of the Department of Public Works (DPW), a standard design for the Queensland regional baby clinic was produced. Based on this plan, ten regional clinics were built. These included Rockhampton, Townsville (demolished), Ipswich, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Gympie, Mackay, Charters Towers, Warwick and Maryborough. A baby clinic was established in Cairns at this time, but it was not of the standard design and is no longer extant.The Rockhampton clinic was the first to be opened on Saturday 27 October 1923. It was described in the 1924 DPW Report:Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Reports of Department of Public Works, 1922-1930"A compact tile-roofed one-storey reinforced cement plaster building of attractive design, containing waiting hall 16 ft by 16 ft; a doctor's room 12 ft by 11 ft; treatment room 13 ft by 11 ft; retiring and nurse's rooms 11ft by 10 ft with water closet, lavatories, store, press etc. Modern fittings and furnishings have been installed throughout and a septic system provided for conveniences."Specifications for the Rockhampton Clinic are indicative of those used for the standardised designed clinics. They were domestic in scale, included Classical architectural treatments to the street-fronting elevations and included interior treatments that were hygienic and easily cleaned. Generally, the foundations were altered to suit individual sites, but essentially the same elevations and floor plans were adapted from the original plan. Some clinics had a bathroom added adjacent to the kitchen if the nurse lived on site, and others had a tool room included, adjacent to the sink room, to enable the gardener to maintain the grounds.
The government was eager to have a baby clinic established in Maryborough, to serve the major regional town and its district. Following a visit in March 1923, the home secretary, Mr William McCormack, identified an appropriate site for a new baby clinic, a vacant lot on the corner of Kent and Lennox streets, adjacent to the stately Maryborough School of Arts and opposite the grand Maryborough City Hall.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 2 March 1923, p.6Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 23 February 1923, p.4. Between 1876 and 1908, this had been the site of the first town hall. The old town hall had become dilapidated, and amidst community support, removed from the site in 1908. The old town hall was moved to a site at 95 Richmond Street in 2020Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 17 June 1908, p.2Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 9 December 1908, p.2Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 15 January 1909, p.3
In 1910, the vacant lot had been granted by the government for a new technical college. However, by the early 1920s, this was yet to be constructed.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 16 April 1910, p.3Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 13 February 1911, p.6Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 20 May 1920, p.4Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 22 June 1920, p.2 At this time, the already existing technical college's classes were being held in the Maryborough School of Arts building, where accommodation was strained. Debate between the college's committee members in relation to the suitability of the small site resulted in another location, beside the grammar school (now Maryborough State High School), being granted by the government for the technical college in 1920.
In April 1923, it was announced that the former college reserve would be the site for a new baby clinic.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 30 April 1923, p.4. Following the completion of the plans by the DPW, the construction of the clinic began in late 1923 and finished by September 1924. The official opening ceremony, attended by several dignitaries including the Assistant Home Secretary, MJ Kirwan MLA, was held on the afternoon of Saturday 13 September 1924.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 11 September 1924, p.4Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 15 September 1924, p.4. The new clinic was described in the local newspaper:Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 18 October 1923, p.6."[The clinic] will be of reinforced concrete, with the partitions of the same material ... the roof will be of Marseilles tiles, and will be surmounted by a fleche ... which will add to the ornamental effect as well as provide for utility. The frontage of the building will be to Kent Street and will stand about 10 feet from the footpath. The clinic will contain several rooms, the dimensions of the whole building being 40 feet frontage and 37 feet in depth. A porch entrance will be provided and off this will be a waiting hall ... [there] will be the doctors' and nurses' rooms, treatment room, retiring room, and a kitchen and sink room, while the various conveniences will be provided for.Two nurses were appointed for the clinic, with Ms MA McLean in charge. The doctor for the clinic was Honorary Medical Officer, Dr HC Garde.The Telegraph, 16 September 1924, p.5. An attractive timber fence, which had been built as early as 1910, was in good condition and retained.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 7 November 1910, p.5QSA, "Maryborough Baby Clinic", Memo from Department of Public Instruction, 14 March 1923, Batch No. K13, Item No. 131356.
The establishment of baby clinics throughout Queensland was financed through the profits of the state run lottery, the Golden Casket, established in 1920. The Maternity Act 1922 sought to decrease the death rate for mothers and babies; to increase the birth-rate; to expand outback settlement and to train mothers how to care for children and essentially develop a healthy population. The Act also initiated the establishment of a network of free maternity hospitals throughout Queensland, managed under the Motherhood, Child Welfare and Hospital Fund.
In response to the high infant death rate at the turn of the 20th century, Queensland's first baby clinic had opened in Brisbane in 1908 and was attended by Dr Turner, who saw up to 100 babies a week, free of charge. Following a conference on child welfare in Sydney in 1916, representatives of women's organisations, benevolent societies and the Crèche and Kindergarten Association lobbied the home secretary, John Huxham to establish a network of baby clinics in Queensland. In August 1917, he announced that three clinics would be built, which was later expanded to four. At that time the first baby clinic had just been built in Victoria, while New South Wales already had eleven. All were based on the philosophy of New Zealand doctor, Frederick Truby King, which promoted breast feeding, the training of nurses in maternal and infant welfare and the education of mothers in domestic hygiene.