Author: Rosemary Kerr and Sue Rosen
Client: Otto Cserhalmi & Partners P/L
Historic Context Report for Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital Concord Conservation Management Plan
During the 1880s and 1890s the government’s direct responsibility to provide medical and hospital services increased. The provision of medical care was being removed from the field of charity to that of a social service. The eventual dismemberment of the functions of the Benevolent Society and the removal of its Asylums paved the way for the development of the State Hospital system. It was in this climate of fairly poor services in most voluntary hospitals and the lack of facilities for convalescents in the Sydney region that Thomas Walker, with a strong sense of community need and the funds to contribute, determined to provide the sick and needy of Sydney with a sanctuary in which they might be restored to health, as well as providing a conspicuous display of public philanthropy, which was becoming increasingly rare as the State took over the responsibility for the care of the poor and sick.