Ambulance service

Abstract

After the establishment of Armidale, early New Englanders received medical attention at the hands of medical practioners in their own homes or in the consulting rooms of the local physicians. These rooms included venues rented in the local hotels. An improvement was made with the establishment of the first hospital in Dumaresq Street near the corner of Marsh Street in 1853. This enterprise was relocated to the corner of Donnelly and O'Dell Streets prior to the subsequent construction of a hospital at the current site in 1883. The Donnelly Street building remained as the infectious diseases ward until 1911 when the old building was demolished and the site burned to prevent the spread of disease. Whilst doctors, midwives and the coroner made house calls in early Armidale it was not until January 1927, after a public meeting called by the then Mayor, Morgan Stephens, that the first ambulance service for Armidale commenced from a house provided rent free for a year in Butler Street. This service was free to residents of the New England area. The increase in demand for the service saw its base move from Butler Street to Barney Street before being housed in a purpose built premises in Rusden Street near the Town Hall in 1933.