Parramatta’s
Justice Precinct lays in the north-west area of Parramatta, bounded by many of
Parramatta’s original streets, George Street running east-west, Marsden running
north-south and O’Connell, north–south on the western side of the
precinct. The Precincts’ northern end is
bounded by the upper reaches of the Parramatta River.
Parramatta,
prior to British settlement, was inhabited by the Darug Aboriginal people, who
would have certainly made use of the area for its proximity to the river and
its fresh water, wild duck, turtle, eel and fish reserves. The Precinct is one of Parramatta’s oldest
(British) inhabited areas dating back to 1788 when the first colonists
established their redoubt at Rose Hill, only a few hundred meters from the
site. In 1790, the then Governor, Arthur
Phillip and Surveyor Augustus Alt laid out their plan of the town of Rose Hill
(Parramatta), with High (George Street) and Marsden Streets figuring prominently
in their plan.
The Hospital
The
first convict hospital in Parramatta, the third in the colony, was erected on
the northern end, facing the river and consisted of a series of tents. Watkin Tench, described the hospital as: “A most wretched hospital, totally destitute
of every convenience. Luckily for the gentleman (Thomas Arndell, First Fleet
Surgeon) who superintends this hospital, and still more luckily for those who
are doomed in case of sickness to enter it, the air of Rose Hill has hitherto
been generally healthy”. A second
hospital, 25m long and 6m wide, operated from operated from c. 1792 until
1818. David Collins stated the
foundations of the hospital had been laid in April 1792. By December, he observed: “At Parramatta a brick hospital, consisting
of two wards, (two separate buildings)
were finished this month and the sick were immediately removed into it. The spot chosen for this building was at some
distance from the principal street of the town, and convenient to the water. A surgeon’s residence was added c.1799.
The
discovery of a baby burial (c.1790’s), possibly new born, to the south of the
1792 hospital is stark evidence of the fragility of life and the difficulties
of child bearing in the new colony.
From
1818, a new two-storey building that became known as the Colonial Hospital
catered for the health care of the convicts.
But it wasn’t till 1848, that this building became the centre of one of
Australia’s earliest public institutions when it was established as the
Parramatta District Hospital.
A
Nurses’ Home was suggested to be built, in honour to the WW1 nurses, but was
never erected, within the Precinct.
1948
saw the construction of Jeffery House, a large modern brick six storey hospital
which went on to be utilised as Parramatta District Hospital (P.D.H.). With the establishment of Westmead Hospital,
at Westmead in 1978 the role of P.D.H. changed and Acute Services were
relocated from Jeffery House to Westmead.
Jeffery House continued to function as the rehabilitation arm of
Westmead. In 1991 all services were
moved out of Jerry House and in 1995 the building was decommissioned. The Parramatta Health (Community) Services
moved into the recommissioned, newly refurbished Jeffery House in 2006,
continuing the sites long history of health to the Parramatta area.
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