Hamilton Base Hospital and Benevolent Asylum was established in 1862 to provide care for people suffering from illness and accidents and for victims of personal tragedy and social distress.
In 1893 a new hospital was opened on the same site with further building developments in 1897 and 1907 with the central section still being used today. All benevolent asylum patients were transferred to Ballarat in 1924. Hamilton waited fifty years for the next acute hospital to begin in 1941, but due to delays caused by the Second World War, it was not completed until 1943.
Hamilton arguably had the first specific and separate Isolation and Fever Ward in Australia. The 1897 building was several years ahead of the Fairfield Infectious Disease Hospital in Melbourne. The name Isolation and Fever Ward was a practical one. The only treatment available was to isolate the patient from others to prevent the spread of disease and all the diseases were accompanied by fever.
More about the Queen Victoria Isolation & Fever Wards
The TB Chalet was proposed in 1943, despite being wartime with all the associated restriction, following the opening of the new general hospital building on April 1st 1943 by his Excellency Major General Sir Winston Dugan, Governor of Victoria.
More about the TB Chalet
Further developments occurred with the construction of a 60 bed nursing home in 1978 and the southeast wing for acute care services in 1979. In 1995 Government funding and a major fundraising drive enabled major restructure and renovations to commence. All ward areas of the acute section, Health Information, Pharmacy, Switchboard, Human Resources and Finance were renovated to develop first class acute care and administration facilities. This major redevelopment was officially opened in May 1997. Additional renovations took place in 2001. These renovations included the Mortuary, The Birches, the Education Centre and Hamilton House/Allied Health Building.
As well as expanding services, the hospital changed its name three times before assuming the title of Hamilton Base Hospital in 1972, until 1998 when it amalgamated with other providers in the area and became the Western District Health Service.