St Margaret's Hospital
From Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive
St Margaret's Hospital became a teaching hospital in Obstetrics for the University of Sydney in 1964. The event is commemorated by a plaque in the entrance foyer unveiled by the then Chancellor, Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn, in the presence of a distinguished academic and medical gathering. Subsequently, in 1978, the Hospital became a teaching hospital in Gynaecology and now also instructs medical students in neonatal Paediatrics.
The Hospital was founded in 1894 by Gertrude Abbott to care for unmarried mothers; it has been staffed by the Sisters of St Joseph since 1937. Incorporated into the Hospital after its transfer from Elizabeth Street is the building which housed the first St Aloysius College, later used as a school for girls run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
In addition to the Hospital’s role in training about forty medical students each year, it is now recognized as a training hospital for specialist training (one position per year) and for general practitioner training in Obstetrics (eight positions per year). It has for many years played a role in the training of midwives (sixty per year).
The Hospital has a library available to medical students as well as a comprehensive collection of bottle specimens to assist in their training. In 1971 a grant from the Australian Universities Commission enabled the University of Sydney to undertake the extension of two floors, the third and fourth floors of the clinical school, thus providing rooms for eight medical students, a dining room, library and lecture theatre facilities.
Source: W. B. Molloy, "Sydney University Medical Society" in Young J, Sefton A and Webb N, Centenary Book of the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. Sydney University Press, Sydney