General Private Hospitals in Early Townsville

Hi lovely readers, I'm no longer collating information on midwives, as I published my book about this topic - Neither Mischievous nor Meddlesome - in 2019. Thank you so very much to everyone who contacted me with information, both during the research and writing phase, and since publication. I'm so grateful for the help.  

Something quite interesting to come out of my research at the moment is just how many Townsville women in the early 1900s were setting up their own general private hospital - not just a lying-in hospital in their own home, but a general private hospital. 

It's always seemed as if the general consensus was that the doctors set up these hospitals and then employed nurses to manage and run them. What I am finding is that many of these women, who I assumed were just managing the place for a doctor, actually OWNED the private hospital. In some instances they purchased, or even had the property built, for that purpose. 

A few examples include: Mai Treacy, who purchased the 'Nestle' hospital in Fryer Street and renamed it the 'Lister'; Margaret Monaghan (pictured) who ran 'Tauntonia' Private Hospital in Walker Street; Madge Clements, who secured a property on Melton Hill to set up 'Ardlamont' Private Hospital; and Eva Duman, who purchased a property with her sister Gladys to run 'Verwood' Private Hospital, in Hermit Park. 

The local doctors did attend patients/perform surgeries etc. at these hospitals, but they were not running them. This is exciting stuff for an historian!