5 - St Joseph's Hospital for Consumptives
In July 1886 the Sisters of Charity returned to St Mary’s Convent Parramatta to open St Joseph’s Hospital for Consumptives as a branch of St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. This extension, accommodating about seventy patients, was opened in March 1889 and St Mary’s Convent then became solely the Sisters’ residence. Due to the need for expansion of both the hospital and the adjoining Sisters of Mercy school, in 1892 St Joseph’s Hospital moved to a larger property in Auburn where it served the local community until its closure in 2023. With extensions upwards and lengthways, St Joseph’s Hospital building remains the core of the Convent of Mercy Parramatta.
Image: St Joseph’s Hospital for Consumptives. Image courtesy of Parramatta and District Historical Society
Stories from the Past
These bricks before you, formed the back wall of the male ward of St Joseph’s Hospital for Consumptives, a disease so feared at the time, that sufferers were shunned by society and refused admission to public hospitals. Many died alone and in poverty, rejected by their families and friends. As the Sisters of Charity were to do again one hundred years later, when they offered care and support to those suffering from AIDS, so these early Sisters offered free hospital care to both men and women of all religions and none, in this place, which had been specifically designed with windows and balconies to provide fresh air, sunshine and ventilation for the comfort of the patients.
Take a moment to place your hand on these bricks, noticing their many colours and textures and listen for the voices of those who lived and frequently died here.
One voice that comes to us from this time, is that of Dr Furnival, a local doctor who publicly opposed the Sisters. His groom was admitted here with tuberculosis. After visiting the hospital and seeing Sister Ita McCormick sitting by the bed of the patient, Dr Furnival later admitted to thinking, “There must be something in religion for a beautiful young woman like that to sit all day beside a dying man“.
St Joseph's Hospital for Consumptives Sisters of Charity
1886 - Sisters of Charity returned to Parramatta and opened St Joseph's Consumptive Hospital, Pennant Street, Parramatta in the old St Mary's Convent.
1888 - The foundation stone of a two-storied extension to the hospital (present Convent of Mercy) was laid on land adjoining the Convent.
1889 - March 3, New hospital built on western side next to Convent opened and blessed by His Eminence, Cardinal Moran.
1892 - To accommodate the expansion of both the hospital and the school, a property was purchased at Auburn in June 1892 and on September 7, 1892 St Joseph's Hospital and Sanatorium, Alice Street, Auburn was officially opened.
- Sisters of Charity sold the Convent and hospital to Sisters of Mercy for the sum of £1700.
2023 - St Joseph’s Hospital Auburn closes after serving the local community for more than 130 years.
Image: Rules for Patients - A page from the First Annual Report, 1886-87, St Joseph’s Consumptive Hospital, Parramatta
Image: Cumberland Mercury Article – 12 December 1888
