In 1850 Surveyor, Hugh Roland Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation."

[1] In 1854 a hospital had been established in Maryborough in Fort Street, and prior to this the sick and invalided were treated at home by a few medical practitioners who lived in the town.

[1] The first complex constructed on the new hospital site comprised three brick buildings, a central administrative core flanked by wards, as well as a separate medical superintendent's residence and a palisade fence with gates along Walker Street.

The original 1887 complex comprised three buildings, a central administrative core flanked by two storeyed pavilion wards, those to the east for women and those to the west for men.

[1] Early photographs of the hospital showing these three buildings clearly manifest the ideals of pavilion planning; with three distinct and separated structures surrounded by verandahs.

Of about eighty pavilion planned wards constructed in Queensland during the nineteenth century only six remain, three of these are at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, one at Isisford and one at Ipswich.

[1] The foundation stone of the buildings was laid by the Queensland Premier, Sir Samuel Griffith on 15 April 1885, by which time much of the land had been cleared and trees planted.

The total cost of the complex was about £16 000 to which substantial donations had been made by local benefactors and the Committee's General Fund with the remainder coming from the government.

These values were achieved within the framework provided by a new, modern architecture and characterised by multi levelled high rise structures incorporating new, building and health technology.

Before the Maternity Act (1922) lying-in hospitals were run by charitable or religious institutes to provide services for women unable to pay for private pre-natal care.

This building was intended to replace nineteenth century residence which was partially demolished as a result of the nearby construction of the first nurses' quarters, now the Demaine Block.

[1] After ten years, in 1938 another doctor's residence was constructed on Walker Street also to the design of local architect, POE Hawkes.

[1] The next phases of development, opened in 1938 resulted in the construction of a dedicated operating theatre, which was until this stage, housed in various other buildings on the site.

The design of the operating theatre was described in the local newspaper at the time of opening "as the most up to date in Australia" and influenced by a "famous hospital in Berlin".

[1] In 1950 a dining room, designed by Brisbane architects, Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards was constructed and this was a single storeyed timber building elevated on stumps.

Always intended to be extended, this section of the building formed the ground floor level of what is now B block, on the corner of Walker and Neptune Streets.

An official opening of the building was held on 14 November 1953 by the Minister for Health and Home Affairs, Mr WM Moore, which was intended as the outpatients and administrative wing of the hospital.

There is little overall planning of the site evident, although individual buildings are surrounded by landscaped areas which address street frontage and provide context.

A small timber framed bus shelter with hipped roof is on the Walker Street boundary of the property, adjacent to the original entrance gates.

The complex hipped roof of the original structure is evident above these verandahs and this retains an early corrugated iron cladding.

[1] Internally the building has been renovated but retains many interesting features including an early stair hall and an open ward on the first floor.

This ward, which has plaster rendered walls and a raked timber boarded ceiling, is an example of nineteenth century pavilion planning.

Internally the building retains an early ground floor layout, with several rooms featuring nineteenth century timber joinery, fireplaces and openings.

A centrally located simple concrete stair with timber balustrade provides access to the ground floor level of the building.

The original maternity ward is a long one storeyed reinforced concrete building surrounded by an infilled timber framed verandah.

The other end of the former maternity ward is linked by a short semi enclosed walkway to a separate hipped roof structure.

This small reinforced concrete structure, which was always intended as part of the larger maternity complex, is also surrounded by infilled verandahs, and the interior is substantially intact, with original internal partitioning, openings, ceilings and other joinery.

The building is rendered with rough cast stucco and, originally on the now closed North Street boundary of the site, is centrally located east of the maternity wing.

The ground floor of this projection is lined with heavy rendered masonry, half and three quarter height, piers and this face has now been infilled with glazed louvres.

Four large full length openings, originally used as ambulance vehicle bays give access to the building from Neptune Street.