Established in 1881 by the NSW Government, The Coast Hospital was the first public hospital in the Sydney. It was renamed Prince Henry Hospital in 1934 to mark the visit of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. In 1960 Prince Henry Hospital became a teaching hospital, training both doctors and nurses and in 1965 Prince Henry surgeons performed the world’s first kidney transplant. In 1988 the government made the decision to consolidate Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals into a single campus in Randwick. In 2000 the government appointing Landcom to redevelop the Prince Henry site and the last wards closed in 2003. The Prince Henry Hospital Museum maintains an extensive collection of documents, artefacts and memorabilia related to Prince Henry Hospital and the hundreds of doctors, nurses, patients and support staff associated with the hospital and the history of medicine in NSW.
COVID19 Precautions: The museum is open Sundays with appropriate public health measures in place. Numbers are limited, hand sanitiser is available and visitors are asked to record their name and contact details upon entry. The museum is currently unable to run group tours. Tours will resume when health department guidelines allow.
Location: 2 Brodie Ave, Little Bay, NSW 2036
Open Sundays 10am-3pm
ABOUT THE PRINCE HENRY HOSPITAL MUSEUM
The Prince Henry Hospital Nursing and Medical Museum is located within the Prince Henry precinct at Little Bay. The museum is operated by Prince Henry Hospital Trained Nurses Association (PHHTNA), a volunteer Not for Profit charitable group initially made up of members who trained or worked at Prince Henry Hospital, but which now embraces members from all walks of life.
The Prince Henry Nursing and Medical Museum opened in 2003 in the Flowers Ward One, a heritage ward of the decommissioned Hospital. The North end is open plan space suitable for teaching, information sharing and individual, topical exhibitions. The South end has been is divided into sections with displays of a hospital ward, operating theatre, X-ray machines, dental unit, renal unit, polio ward and children’s ward filled with equipment used throughout the life of the hospital from 1881 to 2003.
OUR VISION
The Prince Henry Hospital Nursing and Medical Museum endeavours to:
- Facilitate a unique medical and historical resource for researchers, health and related disciplines students, and school students
- Provide contemporary relevance balanced with historical accuracy in our exhibitions
- Provide experiences such as tours and talks on health related issues that are imporatant to the community
- Appeal to a broad range of visitors
- Inspire an interest in the facilities provided by the PHH Trained Nurses Association and the history of the area.