Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 83
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Improvements to
the Rum Hospital
Under Bowman's administration the hospital in both its branches,
administrative and clinical, was re-organised. Within 12 months of
Bowman's appointment it had developed into an orderly and well
conducted establishment. In 1820 a mortuary was built, and in 1822 a
dissecting room was erected. Bowman introduced order and system into
the keeping of the registers, re-organised the stores and instituted a
system of keeping two years supply in stock. In 1823 the Supreme
Court moved to new accommodation and vacated the wards it had
occupied as offices since 1817. (Watson, Sydney Hospital, pp.47, 51-3,
59).
Other hospitals in
NSW
Hospitals were established at Windsor (1812), Bathurst (1824), Moreton
Bay (1824), Liverpool (1828) and Goulburn (1834). (Australian
Encyclopaedia, 4th ed., vol. 5, p.179). The Female Factory also had a
hospital for inmates. By 1829 it accepted all females needing medical
aid, and in the mid 1830s it was largely used as a lying-in hospital.
(Salt, Outcast Women, p.111).
Amalgamation of
the civil and military
medical
establishments
Until 1835 there were two official medical establishments, the civil one
under Bowman and the military one attached to the regiments. In July
1835 the two establishments were combined and a Deputy Inspector of
Hospitals and a Deputy Purveyor were appointed. (Watson, Sydney
Hospital, p.57). John Thompson was appointed Deputy Inspector and
took charge of the combined establishment on 1 April 1836. The
Hospital and its staff became assimilated to the military establishment
and were subject to the rules and regulations for the management of
military hospitals. Thompson's general administration and neglect of
duty was the occasion for frequent adverse reports and in 1844 William
Dawson in replaced him. (Watson, Sydney Hospital, pp.57-8, 68, 72-3).
Invalid
Establishment
In January 1843 Governor Gipps announced his intention to remove the
Invalid Establishment at Port Macquarie to Sydney or Liverpool. The
invalids 'have been kept at Port Macquarie, solely on account of the
accommodation offered to them by the Buildings, which were erected
when Port Macquarie was a Penal Station'. (HRA vol. 22, p.457).
Closure of the
General Hospital,
Sydney
The winding down of the convict establishment reduced the need for a
convict hospital. The General Hospital at Sydney closed on 28 March
1848 and the remaining patients were removed to the Parramatta
Factory. (Watson, Sydney Hospital, pp.88-9). The Sydney Infirmary
took possession in September of that year. Imperial convicts who had
not been pardoned and whose sentences had not expired continued to
be maintained at the expense of the British Government. They often
lived out their days in government-run asylums.
Closure of the
Female Factory
The Convict Lunatic and Invalid Establishment replaced the Female
Factory when it closed at the end of 1847, leaving only invalid or insane
inmates still resident. (Jervis, Mental Hospital, p.197, NSW Government
Blue Book 1849, p.378).
Lunatic Asylums
Parramatta
On 28 December 1849 it was announced that a portion of the Invalid
Establishment at Parramatta had been converted into a public asylum
for the reception and custody of lunatics. (NSW Government Gazette
28 December 1849, p.1941). Although separate personnel lists were
published for the Convict Lunatic and Invalid Establishment, and for the
Lunatic Asylum at Parramatta from 1850, the same senior
administrative and medical staff served both institutions. (NSW
Government Blue Book 1850, p.396). In 1856 a list of Lunatic Asylums,
Parramatta was listed but the Convict Lunatic and Invalid Establishment
was no longer shown as a separate institution. (NSW Government Blue
Book 1856, p.446).
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State Records Authority of New South Wales