Tuesday 31 March 2009

Old Prince Henry Hospital - the former sewing cottage site

"This was the site of the sewing cottage a non-descript little building where sewing of nurses uniforms and general mending of clothing took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s."

I love this stylised treadle sewing machine.

Prince Henry Hospital, also called "The Coast Hospital" at Little Bay was closed in 2001, and the prime real estate upon which it sat is being converted to housing.

It was established in 1881 to cope with a smallpox epidemic. Little Bay was chosen because of its (then) isolation from the city.

PS - Little Bay in the background is where Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the coast in 1969. See my previous blog entry about that event.

4 comments:

  1. Very apt sculpture. I like the old-style sewing machines too — very charming. But this sculpture looks huge!

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  2. Very interesting monument to sewing there.

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  3. It is only a small scuplture. But it means that the history of the building is not lost. That newcomers can learn what used to be there.

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  4. Looks like the spelling fixed see http://laperouse.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/enviro-speaking-no-18-website.pdf

    The building itself was heritage listed and mysteriously burnt down. It was in a very inconvenient spot.

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