Kwinana Maternity Hospital

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The former hospital building is an attractive and substantial building located in a prominent position on Kenton Way, which is characterised by its L-shaped form, weatherboard cladding, lowpitched roofs and front verandah.
The former hospital building is complementary to the mostly residential streetscape of Kenton Way.

Historic Value: The place has historic value as the first hospital established in the Kwinana district, following the urgent need for medical facilities for the new residential suburbs of Medina and Calista.

Social Value: The place was constructed following the efforts of the Medina Residents’ Association, and has continued to function as a valuable community service.

Representativeness: The building is typical of the small domestic scale maternity hospital built in the post World War Two period for the rapidly growing population of metropolitan Perth.

Level of significance: Considerable

Physical Description

The place comprises a substantial single-storey building with an L-shaped form, located on the bend of Kenton Way. Parking facilities are located on site to the north and east of the building whilst gardens form a softer setting to the building.
The building is characterised by its low pitched gable roofs clad with corrugated roof sheeting, its timber-framed walls clad with horizontal compressed fibre weatherboard, and the timber-framed verandah running the length of the west elevation, with distinctive criss-cross balustrading. A smaller verandah is located to the rear of the building, facing onto the small courtyard created by the building form.
Located just south of the former hospital building is the former nurses’ quarters. The building is typical of houses constructed in the 1950s, being timber-framed and raised on stumps, with timber battens to the subfloor area, fibro cladding to the walls, and terracotta tiles to the medium-pitched gable roof. Other characteristics include the simple timber-framed entry porch and the timber-framed casement windows. The former nurses’ quarters retains its functional connection to the adjacent former hospital building, but due to refurbishment of the former hospital the visual connection has been weakened, although a common brick pier and metal panel fence front fence suggests a connection.
In 2021, the place is in good condition externally, having been refurbished since 2008 including new roof and wall cladding, and the removal of sunrooms on the front verandah.

History

Early in January, 1955, Dr. Roe, Superintendent of Fremantle Hospital, advised that the existing facilities at Fremantle could not meet the normal hospital needs of the 10,000 residents in Rockingham and Kwinana districts. Kwinana alone had 150 maternity cases in the preceding year and the lack of medical facilities became an issue pursued by the Medina Residents’ Association. At first it appeared that the government was negotiating purchased of the Kellogg Company’s temporary construction offices, however in May it was announced that those quarters would be unsuitable and that a ten-bed maternity hospital would be built.
The Medina Maternity Hospital was officially opened on 9 December 1995 by the Minister for Health, Hon. E. Nulsen, MLA. After the hospital was declared open visitors were invited to inspect the wards and nurses quarters. The hospital consisted of four wards, one with four beds, two with two beds and two with one bed. The nurses quarters were placed in a house nearby.
The hospital was initially under the care of Matron Enright and Sister Enright, and the first baby was born there only five days after the official opening, to Miss Barbara Blackman.
Aerial photographs from 1955 indicate that the place was originally clad in asbestos sheeting and then reroofed in green corrugated sheets in the late 1990s. This was replaced in 2003 with a white sheeting material, and again with the current grey/green colorbond sheets in 2010. There appears to have been no major changes in the original form or extent.
In 2004, the place became Breathing Space, a residential treatment facility for Communicare’s Family and Domestic Violence men’s behaviour change program.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate
Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.