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| The Royal Hospital for Women was established on the Paddington site in 1905 by the Benevolent Society of NSW which itself was established in 1813 as Australia's first charity. Although the services of the hospital were moved by the state government to the public hospital site in Randwick in the early '90s, there is still a Benevolent Society office on the Oxford Street boundary of this site. Being a women's hospital, there is much trauma in the history of this site with regard to the adoption at birth of children of unmarried mothers. Today, however, the walk down through the grounds from Paddington Town Hall to Five Ways, is a delightful meander, ending as it does in the park on Glenmore Road. The historic photograph was dated 1931. |
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7 comments:
It is nice to see that the arches of the old structure have been maintained.
I imagine the people who have moved into here are too young to remember any of that trauma.
As always your before and after responses are appreciated.
Your mention of the unmarried mothers brings back sad memories of young women I shared my life with in the 1970s who were part of that trauma.
Julie and I are very grateful to you for arranging our recent get together with you and other Sydney Daily Photo bloggers during our visit to Sydney. We have just returned to Arizona after our trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea. We had a wonderful journey. Best wishes, and we hope to see you again on a future visit.
I'm sure I've been here but can't quite figure out where it is exactly.
I was/am part of that trauma in The Royal Hospital for Women. In 1960 when at the age of 18 i gave birth to a little boy as an unmarried mother or should I use the vernacular of the day and say a fallen woman or slut. I wasn't allowed to see him or touch him, just sign the adoption papers.....and the story goes on. Thirty years later I met my son and two grandsons, now there is a granddaughter and a great grand daughter. But as no bonding occurred they are not very close besides a cool approach of TOH.
This is a courageous comment to have left, Diane. I admire that very much. Many of the girls I went to school with in the first half of the '60s found themselves in similar situations. The child was either taken away, or they lived a secluded life at home with their parents as a 'fallen woman', or they entered into a young and very doomed marriage.
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