Rosewood History

The Rosewood Infectious Disease Hospital
aka The Epidemic Hospital

49 Hospital Road, Rosewood

In the early days, infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, typhoid, and diphtheria were either treated locally in the family home by a doctor or nurse, or if severe, the patient was sent by train to the Ipswich General Hospital. Many times the hospital could not accomodate any more cases and sufferers were sent further on by train to Brisbane hospitals like Wattlebrea. It was a highly unsuitable situation for several obvious reasons. The Toowoomba Hospital was in the same situation. These general hospitals were acting within their rights and in the interests of their communities, but it did seem like there was some lack of humanity in the refusal of an admission. 

In 1904 the Commissioner for Public Health, Dr. Bertie Burnett Ham, issued regulations for the treatment of such cases in isolated hospitals. The regulations were sent to all local authorities. One clause said:- Unless the medical officer of health is satisfied that proper isolation can be obtained in the patient’s own home for the full period of quarantine necessary, the patient must be sent to the isolation hospital.”

In order that an isolation hospital would be provided in Ipswich, the municipality and the Shires of Rosewood, Walloon, Purga, Bundanba and Brassall were formed into a Joint Hospital Board under directions from Dr. Ham. The Ipswich Hospital board of management agreed to take a certain number of cases of scarlet fever while the Joint Board was given time to provide suitable isolation premises.

At the monthly meeting of the Rosewood Shire Council on 26th March, the heavy expense which the Joint Board was incurring upon the Rosewood and other Shire Councils was a hot topic. Councillor T. E. Coulson (Chair) pushed for abolishing the Board, and said that if that could not be done, then the Joint Board would have to establish an isolation hospital. Councillor Xavier Oberle said that it was an injustice to the ratepayers to saddle them with the cost of the upkeep of a Joint Hospital Board. The councillors resolved that Councillor Coulson should represent them on the Joint Board, and that he should use his position to do his utmost to insist that the Government be made responsible for the treatment of epidemic diseases.

However, the Joint Board continued to evaded their responsibility and did not take proper action to establish an isolation hospital, which was the whole reason for its formation. The Ipswich Hospital rented a cottage at Newtown where patients with scarlet fever could be treated and a site was proposed by the Joint Board for an isolation hospital on Denmark Hill. Then all sorts of ideas were touted like setting apart a site at the Sandy Gallop Showgrounds or a using a site at McGill’s paddock, or converting the old immigration depot at North Ipswich into a hospital. Years later in 1913, an area of 6 acres 3 roods 8 perches on Deebing Creek was reserved for a hospital for infectious diseases and placed under the control of the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board. Nothing eventuated then either.

At any rate, by the end of 1904, Rosewood and Walloon wanted to take the responsibility of separate action. Some of the other local authorities were against that happening. They felt that those who were forced to be a part of the Joint Board should not be saddled with the expenses of those which were allowed to act separately. Expenditure was a big issue, and the sharing of it, and it remained that way throughout the years.

Five years down the track, Rosewood and Walloon Shires were fed up with the situation and the two Councils were intent on succeeding from the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board. Cr. J. Pender (Chairman, Rosewood Shire Council) and Cr. H. Heiner (Chairman, Walloon Shire Council) went to see the Home Secretary (Hon. J. T. Bell) on 28th January 1909, and requested the severance of the shires they represented from the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board. The Commissioner of Public Health (Dr. B. B. Ham) also was present. It was stated that no serious sickness had broken out in the shires of late, and since the inception of the Board neither of them had sent a patient suffering from an infectious disease to the hospital. During the last four years Walloon had contributed £118 12s. Id. and Rosewood £98 10s. by way of precept to the board, and it was felt that that money could be better expended by making provision in their own area for the treatment of infectious cases.

It was proposed to erect an isolation hospital on a suitable site half a mile from the township of Rosewood towards Marburg, to equip it with beds etc., for the immediate reception of patients, and to appoint a caretaker, a competent person to receive patients and a nurse. The medical fee would he £5 5s. for each patient, but in cases where patients could not afford to pay, the council would bear the expense. Both councillors assured Mr. Bell that there was no fear of an epidemic taking a hold in the district, as several doctors now were resident there.

Dr. Ham’s only objection was that the other component local authorities might want to follow the same course. Mr. Bell thought the wisest plan would be to communicate with the other shires and ascertain their views on the matter. Unless they gave strong reasons against the proposal, the request would be granted. The plan had been favourably received by the residents of the two shires so there was no barrier in that regard.

At the ordinary monthly meeting of the Rosewood Shire Council on 24th March, Councillor John Kurt Just spoke about Mrs. Hermine Kapernick, who had treated six cases of diphtheria that year, and he asked that she be granted 5s for each case to cover fumigation expenses (which she was). Mrs. Kapernick, he said, had done the Council a great favour by taking in the patients who would have otherwise been sent to the Ipswich Hospital. Cr. Ahearn said that Ipswich would not have taken them. Cr. John Yates (Chairman) replied, “That’s just the position. That’s why I want the hospital business gone on with!”

The next day, the Council’s health officer Dr. Arthur Anderson approved of a site for the epidemic hospital. Everything from thereon progressed fairly well. A tender was accepted (£95/10/-) for pulling down the old shire office (which was situated across the road from Rosewood State School), and re-erecting it, with additions, for use as an infectious disease hospital, on the new site in what is now Hospital Road. A part of the old shire office also went to Demas Akes for his plumbing business. The ground was pretty well cleared, and bullock drivers were busy carting the blocks. As soon as the timber and blocks were on the site, the overseer would arrange for the old office to be shifted to the new site.

During this time, Infantile Paralysis was declared to be an infectious disease under the Health Act of 1900.

In July, at a meeting of the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board, a letter was read from the Rosewood Shire Council stating that they were erecting an infectious diseases hospital and they would require furniture for it. They asked for an equal distribution of the assets of the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board, or an equivalent in value. 

A letter on the same subject was received from the Clerk of the Walloon Shire Council, reading as follows:-“According to the statement furnished, your assets exceed our liabilities, to the extent of £4 8s 5d on the date of severance. Consequently, instead of this council being indebted to your board, it is, apso facto, a creditor to the extent of its proportion of £4 8s 5d, and for which said proportion I formally enter a claim.”

Dr. Albert Dunlop (who represented the Bundanba Shire Council) and Dr. William Henry Von Lossberg, both said that they would not allow the assets consisting of furniture &c., to be removed from the hospital (at Newtown), because patients suffering from infectious diseases had been treated there. The doctors said that the assets were of no value. After further discussion, it was decided that the Rosewood and Walloon Shire Councils would be informed that, when they paid the amounts due by them, they would get their share of the assets.

In November, the Commissioner for Public Health finally notified the various local authorities that he was satisfied that Rosewood and Walloon were making proper arrangements and he issued an order totally excluding the two from the Ipswich Joint Hospital Board. 

By Christmas 1909, Cr. Yates, with assistance from Mrs. Yates, had furnished the Rosewood Epidemic Hospital. He had purchased fairly good items for about £28. The institution was ready for any patients who might require to use it and a nurse would be bought up from Brisbane when required. It was hoped there would never be occasion to use the hospital. 

At a council meeting in December, in consideration of the fact that the Council had been saved a good deal of expense by the Baills’s son being treated in Dr. Allen’s private hospital, Mr. Baills was granted £5 to assist with the expense. [Under Clause 79 of the new Health Act Amendment Bill, the recovery of expenses incurred by the person conducting a private hospital in treating patients suffering from an infectious disease who has to be removed to a public hospital, is the financial responsibility of the local authority where the patient resides.]

Dr. Thomas Allen wrote to the Rosewood Council in January 1911 to say that he could not allow anyone to interfere with him in the discharge of his professional work. He stated that it was for him to decide whether (in regard to infectious diseases) a visit was necessary or not and he could not accept any reduction of his account as he had only charged the ordinary fee. Apparently a case of fever had come from Toowoomba and had been treated by Dr. Allen with Cr. Yates’s consent, the latter being unaware that the patient was from Toowoomba. At the previous council meeting some remarks about Dr. Allen had been made. In protest against the attitude of the council, Dr. Allen tendered his resignation as medical health officer. 

Cr. J. Yates (Chairman), Cr. H. Dutney and Cr. F. A. Kingston visited Dr. Allen to discuss the matter. They hoped that the doctor would reconsider his resignation if a formal agreement was made, placing the health officer’s status on a better footing. Dr. Allen reconsidered and stayed in the position until he left town in August.

During 1912, some of the fines imposed on offenders at the Rosewood Court House were donated to the Epidemic Hospital. William and Annie Blake were appointed as caretakers at the hospital. 

Dr. Robert Wallace, the new health officer, reported that three cases of diphtheria had occurred within the shire in June 1912.

In June 1915 the Blakes took issue with the council. When patients were discharged their wage stopped. They pointed out that it was necessary, after patients left the hospital, for the building to be fumigated and other necessary work completed such as washing and scrubbing floors. The Blakes submitted a claim for £1 for the additional work entailed and applied for a permanent salary of 10s per week for carrying out the duties of caretakers. They were denied a permanent salary but were paid £1 for any future fumigating etc.

Annie Dale died from diphtheria aged 5 years in October. She was the daughter of John and Honorah Dale and had been attended by Dr. Wallace for several days in the Epidemic Hospital.

In November, the Council’s solicitor drew up a new agreement with the Blakes and submitted it to the Hospital Committee (Cr. J. B. Sloane, Cr. W. Ruhno and Cr. P. J. Doonan). The Blakes would be paid at the rate of £2 10s per week as caretakers while the hospital was accommodating up to eight patients. Fumigation would be paid for separately at the rate of £1 for each process. No remuneration would be paid when the hospital was not being used for patients. They would be paid the £7 due for washing up come the 18th December.

The telephone line was extended to the Infectious Diseases Hospital and an ice chest was installed. It was procured from Ruhno and Maher.

Dr. Wallace’s health report for the year 1916 was as follows: Diphtheria, nine cases; erysipelas, three cases; chicken pox, four cases. Five of the patients suffering from diphtheria were treated at the Rosewood Epidemic Hospital. There had been no cases of typhoid fever in the shire during that time. As this disease was largely a preventible one, and it was largely caused by defective and insanitary earth closets, Dr. Wallace recommended that the earth closets be constructed in accordance with the regulations of the Health Commissioner.

At a Council meeting in March 1917, Cr. Coulson reported that, together with Cr. Doonan and the Clerk, he had inspected the epidemic hospital and conditions were not all that could be desired. Several improvements were urgently needed. The accommodation was anything but good and he recommended that a verandah be put on the right side of the building. The place needed renovating throughout so it was agreed that tenders be called for the recommended work. Dr. Wallace was reappointed as Medical Officer for Health, and Dr. Sirois (Marburg) was appointed to act as Health Officer in No. 4 division.

Three cases of diphtheria were admitted to the epidemic hospital during the last week of March 1918, one being a pupil attending the Rosewood State school, which was closed for a day and disinfected.

It wasn’t until 1923 that French scientist Gaston Ramon developed a combined vaccine for diphtheria and tetanus, the first toxoid vaccine, which started being administered in 1924. The morality rate for diphtheria between 1910 and 1944 fell by 86.4%.

This notice was published in November 1918.

Originating in Europe, the virus spread rapidly around the world as soldiers returned from active service at the end of the Great War. Australia had months to prepare for the pandemic due to its distance from Europe. The Australian Quarantine Service began checking ships arriving in Australia. The first infected ship to enter Australian waters was the Mataram, from Singapore, which arrived in Darwin on 18th October, and the first case of the flu appeared in Melbourne in early January 1919. 

The Catholic Advocate reported: So far Queensland has happily escaped the terrible war scourge known as pneumonic influenza, which already has caused more deaths throughout the world than the most deadly and terrible war known to mankind.

On 4th February, the Rosewood Shire Council office was converted into a depot to provide a two part, free inoculation to residents against the pneumonic influenza. Dr. Wallace vaccinated 140 people on the first day and 88 on the next Thursday, and 66 on Friday with Dose B. The Rosewood Council was complimented on having made such good progress in handling the matter. 

In the event of an outbreak, the schools would be closed and the buildings used for isolation purposes. The showgrounds would be used for the treatment of contacts. Several people volunteered their services as attendants. An appeal was made to people willing to aid in the event of an outbreak, and the military authorities were contacted regarding the use of tents. Dr. Wallace was given permission to carry out any duties he considered necessary.

By May several mild cases of ordinary influenza were in the district and Dr. Wallace was very busy. Mr. R. Hines, of the Bank of Queensland, was a patient in the Epidemic Hospital with influenza and was progressing satisfactorily. Mr. Lionel McGinley, of the Queensland National Bank was another patient at the hospital. The Shire Council has secured the services of Nurse Pass to care for them.

Miss Margaret Evelyn (Cissy) Farrell died of pneumonic influenza on 27th at St Laurence’s Hospital in Brisbane aged 25 years. She was the daughter of Michael and Mary Ellen Farrell.

Mr. J. Gleeson from the railway construction camp was admitted to the Rosewood Epidemic Hospital with a mild case.  

James Thomas Crane from Rosewood died at Texas from influenza. He’d only been in the town for 9 days.

The following notice was chalked on a blackboard near the front door of a metropolitan school: “School Closed. Teachers please leave their postal addresses with the caretaker.” Soon after someone altered the last sentence to “Teachers please leave their postal addresses with the undertaker.”

By June the influenza was spreading, especially in the outside districts. At Minden entire familles were affected. Even Dr. Wallace, who had been busily attending to patients, contracted a mild case and was confined to his bed for a few days. A second nurse was on duty at the Rosewood Epidemic Hospital and S.O.S. cards were being distributed by school boys. The State schools were closed and most entertainments were abandoned. The public was urged to heed the advice about the necessity of taking to bed at the earliest stage of an attack.

The Rev. Father Kelleher of the Rosewood Presbytery contracted influenza. Police Sgt. French was admitted to the epidemic hospital on 21st and three fresh cases were admitted on 25th.

On 17th July, the clerk of the Rosewood Shire Council received notice from the Health Department, that the restrictions in regards to the epidemic in Rosewood were repealed. The epidemic hospital closed and the schools in the Shire opened again on the following Monday 21st .

Almost immediately the situation changed and influenza made a sudden return to Rosewood, and it spread rapidly. The hospital was re-opened and a number of patients were admitted. The influenza seemed to be more virulent, several cases being very serious. On 18th July, Joseph William Evans, long time Chemist in Rosewood, died of influenza. Nurse Donovan, who was in charge of the hospital contracted influenza, and Nurse Robinson arrived on the night of 18th to take her place. Twelve patients were admitted within a few days.  

The Shire Council, acting under instruction from the Dr. Wallace, requisitioned the show pavilion for the use of convalescent patients. The Show Society was forced to cancel the show. On the advice of Dr. Wallace, the Rosewood school was closed again. Almost every house had a patient or two, and in some cases the whole family was down.

In August cases were still coming in. Mary Elsie Ponting died on 16th from pneumonia following influenza, aged 24 years. Mr John Patrick Mc Mullen, of the Railway Department also succumbed on 27th aged 35 years, leaving a widow and five children, the youngest being only a few months old.

By the end of the year the influenza epidemic had passed.

On 29th February 1920, Daisy Kelly, the eleven year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kelly, of Rosevale died at the Epidemic Hospital from diphtheria.

The Council sold up a lot of the equipment that was used during the epidemic (see ad). The hospital now opened and closed only as needed.

In May 1922, five year old James Thomas Coveney, who had been dangerously ill with meningitis was slowly recovering. A schoolboy, Cecil Greet, was admitted to the epidemic hospital suffering from enteric fever and Miss Malie O’Shea was an inmate suffering from diphtheria. 

The hospital was reopened again in early October 1922 when a diphtheria patient was admitted.

The cost of maintaining the Epidemic Hospital in 1922 was £306. 

In August 1923 the Council appointed caretakers at the hospital. I’ve been unable to find who they were.

Mr. J. Wyatte was admitted to the Epidemic Hospital in March 1924 and Nurse Hazard was in charge of his care.

The caretakers of the Epidemic Hospital tendered their resignation from May 31st 1924. John and Mary Delagust were appointed, but in late August they tendered their resignation.

Discussion began within the Council about whether it would be better to treat patients outside of the hospital. They started looking at the fees that other hospitals were charging to treat patients. As previously mentioned, expenditure was always an issue.

At a council meeting (24th October), the Chairman Cr. Herbert Dutney, said that there was only one patient in the hospital and when that patient was discharged, the hospital would be closed and remain closed until it was required again. The epidemic hospital was never re-opened for the purpose of a hospital. 

In December, Cr. J. A. Wells drew attention to the expense of treating patients at the hospital. The last patient had cost £63 and in 1923 it had cost £404 to treat 12 patients. The clerk was instructed to write to the Ipswich General Hospital, asking if they would treat Rosewood cases, and ask what the charge per patient would be.

A fourth case of infantile paralysis from the Rosewood district was admitted to the Ipswich General Hospital.

In 1926 there was a dengue epidemic prevailing in the district. The Rosewood School staff was reduced and several old residents were ill, amongst them being Mr. John O’Reilly, of Brefni, whose condition was critical owing to his advanced years. He died on 20th March.

When the Rosewood Shire Council met in March, Mr. John O’Shea put a contentious request before the councillors. His son was diagnosed with diphtheria and the infectious disease hospital in Rosewood was closed. Dr. Wallace told John O’Shea that it could be opened in a couple of days and his son could be admitted there (in which case the whole cost of his treatment would be borne by the council), or the boy could be isolated at home. John O’Shea chose isolation at home, but it meant that his dairy herd had to be moved away to another part of the district and he had incurred expenses in having them milked there. John O’Shea contended that, as the council had been saved £30 to £60 through his son being treated at home, the least they could do was to pay him the doctor’s and chemist’s expenses. The chairman promised to give the matter due consideration. It was decided to advise John O’Shea that their records showed it was not in infectious case and that they accepted no responsibility.

The Health Inspector inspected in various parts of the Shire in July 1926 and reported satisfactory conditions were prevailing. No infectious diseases were reported.

The Council received an account for £50 for cases treated at the Ipswich General Hospital. The cases had been sent to Ipswich by the patients’ parents. The rate was 9/3 a day. On receipt of the account, Cr. H. Dutney (Chairman) instructed the Inspector to talk to the the hospital authorities in Ipswich to ascertain whether they would treat all infectious cases from the area. If satisfactory arrangements could be made, Cr. Dutney recommended the disposal of the Rosewood hospital. He said that eleven patients had been treated in the Ipswich Hospital since the Rosewood epidemic hospital was closed. It had cost £288 to treat them. If the treatment had been given in Rosewood, the charge would have been something like £550.

The Ipswich General Hospital agreed to treat infectious patients from the Shire at an average cost per patient of 9/3 a day.

At the first meeting of a newly elected council in April 1927, it was decided to rent the epidemic hospital to a suitable tenant. Albert Boughen was that tenant. 

Steps were taken in October 1928 to prevent the spread of white ants as the partitions and ceilings were badly infected.

In May 1929 Messrs. Walsh and Co., informed the Council that they had a buyer for the old infectious diseases hospital, but the council decided not to sell.

Albert Boughen lived in the old hospital until the end of 1946 at which time there were three applications for the tenancy of the house. Cr. Johnston thought if a returned serviceman was among the applicants, he should be given priority.

In July 1951 an offer of £300 for the council building at Rosewood, known as the old epidemic hospital, was accepted. 

© Jane Schy, 2025