Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

Dining room in the Venereal Isolation Hospital, South Brisbane, c 1946

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Female Venereal Disease Isolation Hospital was established at the Brisbane General Hospital in 1911 where women were compulsorily detained under the Queensland Health Act of 1911. It was moved to a building adjacent to HM Prison Brisbane – Boggo Road in 1920.

Up to 1943 it was used for the confinement of “common prostitutes”, “promiscuous amateurs” and “delinquent girls”. From 1943 it was also used for “any woman found to have infected personnel of the fighting forces”. It reached its peak in November 1943 with 105 “inmates”. The increase in 1943 required expanding the facilities.

The discovery of penicillin resulted in the Queensland Government treating “venereal disease” as a medical issue rather than using punitive detention. The Isolation Hospital closed in 1948 and in 1950 became part of the “new” general female prison.

Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 2725

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Brisbane Women's Hospital, 1947

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Brisbane Hospital was built at Herston in 1867. The new Women’s Hospital opened on adjacent land in 1938. Queen Elizabeth II gave permission to use the prefix “Royal” to the Brisbane Hospital in 1966 and to the Brisbane Women’s Hospital in 1967.

The 1938 Royal Women’s Hospital building was demolished in 2002. Royal Brisbane Hospital and the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital were merged into the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in 2003.

Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 26479

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