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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Parramatta Hospital c1900

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Parramatta Hospital c1900

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State Archives & Records New South Wales

[NRS4481 [7_16222] Sh1721]

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Hospitals The Colonial Hospital

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Hospitals

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Parramatta River

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Parramatta

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Colonial Hospital

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State Archives & Records New South Wales

Statutory body established by the State Records Act 1998. The Act provides for the creation, management and protection of the records of public offices of the State and for public access to those records.

Based at Kingswood, State Archives and Records NSW manage and provide access to the New South Wales State archives collection, a unique and irreplaceable part of Australia's cultural heritage dating back to 1788.

Hospitals

Despite medical and scientific advances, the huge hospital complexes of today face similar challenges of staffing, capacity and politics as those of Sydney's first tent hospitals.

The Colonial Hospital

At the request of Governor Macquarie, a new convict hospital was built at Parramatta and opened in 1818. Designed by John Watts, the building was based on a military hospital and proved grossly inadequate: only half the expected number of patients could be treated there, men and women were placed side-by-side, and diseases such as dysentery, tuberculosis and syphilis were rife. The hospital officially closed on 31 March 1848, reopening as Parramatta District Hospital in June the same year and bringing the era of convict healthcare to a close.

Hospitals

Parramatta River

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Major tributary of Sydney Harbour, which flows east from Blacktown Creek to meet Port Jackson between Greenwich and Birchgrove. The river is tidal to Charles Street Weir at Parramatta, 30 kilometres from Sydney Heads.

Parramatta

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Western suburb built on the land of the Burramattagal people. Sydney's second European settlement, it began as a government farm in 1788 and has many heritage listed sites. It is now the commercial hub of Greater Western Sydney.

Colonial Hospital

Third convict hospital erected on the site which after 1848 provided medical support for not just convicts but for all in the Parramatta area.

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