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Devonleigh Maternity Hospital
Established by Sister Florence Grono in 1926 when she purchased the land at 9 Anstey Street in Peppermint Grove, Devonleigh Hospital was named after a family property in the Eastern States.
The Devonleigh Maternity Hospital opened in 1931 as an extension of the Devonleigh Hospital. The privately run facility was the result of public demand and contained 10 beds, following the closure of several small private maternity hospitals. The demand for services particularly increased during World War 2 when maternity rates rose.
Over the years, extensions were made to the operating theatre, with quarters for nurses constructed in nearby Airlie Street.
Due to the difficulty in finding trained staff in 1948, although nowhere as bad as the year before, Sister Grono announced she was considering converting the hospital into eleven flats. An application lodged with the Claremont Municipal Council was approved on 22 November 1948, despite councillors expressing regret that the only maternity hospital in the district would have to close.
Government Purchase
As a result of a high demand for maternity services, the Public Health Department took over the hospital in 1948 and established a midwifery training school, which was known as the Central Training School.
In February 1954, the State Government purchased a two storey residential house at 18 Colin Street, West Perth at a cost of £23,000, to transfer the country nurse training school from Devonleigh to West Perth. This would enable the expansion of Devonleigh’s Maternity Hospital to admit up to 19 more expecting mothers. Students were transferred to West Perth in 1955, with the school being renamed the Government School of Nursing.
Health records from 1962 show that approximately 50 babies were born a month at Devonleigh (which would dwindle down to 150 per year by the late 1970s) and at any time, there were an average of 16 mothers admitted, staying for an average 10 days.
Forced Adoption
Between the 1950s and 1970s, the practice of forced adoption appears to have been a common practice. It left hundreds (if not thousands) of mothers traumatised for life, with reports of some being “drugged, or physically shackled to the bed” whilst their baby was whisked away forever.
Maternity hospitals were well known for “acting as adoption agents” and with King Edward Hospital having lists of people waiting to adopt children, babies were transported over from Devonleigh within days of being born and without their mothers’ permission.
As many as five babies would be transported over in a single day and it wasn’t until 2012, when a Senate Enquiry into forced adoptions, publicly revealed the extent and treatment suffered by victimised mothers.
Mental Health Home
Following a decline in patient numbers in 1977, the maternity hospital was closed and patients were redirected to the Woodside Hospital in East Fremantle.
The Department of Mental Health Services converted Devonleigh to accommodate up to 32 moderately handicapped children with intellectual disabilities at a cost of $90,000. Children were transferred from the Pyrton Training Centre (60 Lord Street, Eden Hill).
The on-site nurse quarters was used as “an independence training home for 6 to 8 people” and the old matron’s quarters as a “training day centre for adults.”
Photographs
Particularly due to increasing community objections at having mental health services located at Devonleigh, it was put up for sale during the 1980s and would be demolished to make way for subdivided blocks of land for housing units.
There are no remains of the Devonleigh Hospital today, nor are there any photographs on record.
