South Sydney Women's Hospital was a maternity hospital that provided midwifery and maternity care, particularly to poor and unmarried women. It was founded in Newtown (Camperdown) 1905 by George and Louisa Ardill and the Sydney Rescue Work Society and had been the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women. It trained midwives and was a place where adoptions were arranged. It closed in 1976.
South Sydney Women's Hospital began as the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen women. The Home of Hope was established by George Edward Ardill in the 1890, in Newtown (Camperdown) as a rescue home and lying-in facility for unmarried pregnant women. When Ardill incorporated the Sydney Rescue Work Society in 1890 the home became a flagship of the new organisation.
Ardill's wife Louisa was the matron of the lying-in home and was a pioneer of midwifery. The Home was renamed South Sydney Women's Hospital in 1905. It became one of the most important midwife-training hospitals in Sydney, and provided outreach services to women in the working class suburbs of Newtown, Glebe, Petersham and Forest Lodge. It was also a place where adoptions were arranged.
South Sydney Women's Hospital closed in 1976 and the building was demolished.
1883 - 1904 Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women
1905 - 1976 South Sydney Women's Hospital
Sources used to compile this entry: Integricare History, Integricare, Burwood, 2012, 4 pp; Radi, Heather, ''Ardill, George Edward (1857-1945)'', in Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Melbourne University Press, 1979, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ardill-george-edward-5048; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf; Thornton, Bruce, George Edward Ardill and the Sydney Rescue Work Society (now Communicare Sydney) [also titled "Haste to the Rescue"], Baptist Historical Society of New South Wales, Sydney, 2008, 118 pp.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 21 April 2011, Last modified: 30 August 2013