Queen Victoria Children's Convalescent Home, c. 1900, courtesy of State Library of South Australia.
Details
The Queen Victoria Convalescent Home for Children opened at Mount Lofty in 1898. The home was operated by the Adelaide Children's Hospital as a Convalescent home for children recovering from illness. It operated until the early 1940s.
The Queen Victoria Convalescent Home for Children was built at Mount Lofty in 1897 and opened in 1898. Built and named in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the home was operated by the Adelaide Children's Hospital as a Convalescent home where children recovering from illness could go and 'gain strength and health in the pure hill air'.
Situated on large grounds, the Home was built at a cost of £1,734 and it was reported that £1,000 of that amount was raised by the fund raising activities of the children of the Sunbeam Society. £518 was spent after the opening, adding a large underground water tank and a sunroom/children's playroom that came off the one large ward.
In 1899 newspapers reported that on average 10 to 12 children were convalescing at the Home at one time. By 1905 there had been 366 children admitted the Home since its opening. In 1909 a reporter noted that some of the patients admitted were tuberculosis cases. In May 1941 papers reported that the Home was caring for 16 children.
The Queen Victoria Convalescent Home for Children operated until the early 1940s and later became a holiday home for nurses. The building was auctioned by the Hospital on 17 September 1947.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Diamond Jubilee Memorial - Home for convalescent children', South Australian Register (Adelaide), 12 July 1897, pp. 5-6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54506400; 'Queen Victoria Convalescent Home for Children', South Australian Register (Adelaide), 28 August 1899, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54587276; 'QUEEN VICTORIA CONVALESCENT HOME FOR CHILDREN', South Australian Register (Adelaide, South Australia), 28 August 1899, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54587276; 'FOR LITTLE CHILDREN', The Register (Adelaide, South Australia), 12 September 1905, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56855619; 'QUEEN VICTORIA HOME', The Register (Adelaide, South Australia), 8 February 1909, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57551585; 'CARING FOR SICK CHILDREN', The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia), 29 May 1941, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45006883.
Prepared by: Karen George and Gary George
Created: 15 May 2012, Last modified: 28 October 2013
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/sa/biogs/SE01119b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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