Semaphore - 'Wolverton' facing the sea, built 1903, later additions in keeping with the original design. South Australia
‘Wolverton’ home built 1903 on the Semaphore Esplanade – LeFevre Community Hospital from 1950.
This converted home, extended in size, has served the community since 1906.
Percy Woolls, who built the hospital’s building as a home he called ‘Wolverton., had suffered tragedy when his wife of six months, “Taddie” (Francis Mary Annie) Paqualin, died, aged 19, in 1897 at Semaphore.
Woolls bought the sandhills site on the Esplanade, Semaphore, for “Wolverton” in 1903 and had the house built but only lived in it for three months before returning to Sydney.
Nursing sister Margaret Nisbett paid half of the original cost as the only bidder for it in an auction in 1906. She converted it into Wolverton Rest Home hospital. Eighteen years later, another nurse, Sister E. Parks, took over and converted it into the Wolverton Private Hospital.
In 1949, the western suburbs community lost the hospital’s 11-bed maternity section due to a staff shortage.
Semaphore member of parliament Harold Tapping was involved in discussions about the community buying the hospital for £20,000. Tapping led a deputation to health minister Lyell McEwin that successfully gained the government’s agreement to cover half the cost. The hospital’s community committee quickly raised the other £10,000, with large Port Adelaide companies such as ICI and Adelaide Cement Company contributing.
LeFevre Community Hospital was born.
Community control from 1950 of the LeFevre hospital and its maternity wing came with complaints that “these same people who helped buy this hospital have to pay between £10-£12 per week for a bed, plus the usual hospital charges for the theatre and sedatives etc, then on top of that the doctor's bill. Twenty-five to thirty guineas is the average hospital charge for two weeks. Admission to the hospital is limited to those who are patients of one of a group of local doctors.”
The LeFevre community hospital board pressed on to solve the staff problem and secured a seven-roomed stone house at Derby Street, Semaphore, for use as nurses’ quarters.
Following a medical incident in 1989 the hospital was placed in liquidation, then sold and closed in 1995. It now serves as a residential care centre.
Ref: ADELAIDE AZ
Semaphore - 'Wolverton' facing the sea, built 1903, later additions in keeping with the original design. South Australia
‘Wolverton’ home built 1903 on the Semaphore Esplanade – LeFevre Community Hospital from 1950.
This converted home, extended in size, has served the community since 1906.
Percy Woolls, who built the hospital’s building as a home he called ‘Wolverton., had suffered tragedy when his wife of six months, “Taddie” (Francis Mary Annie) Paqualin, died, aged 19, in 1897 at Semaphore.
Woolls bought the sandhills site on the Esplanade, Semaphore, for “Wolverton” in 1903 and had the house built but only lived in it for three months before returning to Sydney.
Nursing sister Margaret Nisbett paid half of the original cost as the only bidder for it in an auction in 1906. She converted it into Wolverton Rest Home hospital. Eighteen years later, another nurse, Sister E. Parks, took over and converted it into the Wolverton Private Hospital.
In 1949, the western suburbs community lost the hospital’s 11-bed maternity section due to a staff shortage.
Semaphore member of parliament Harold Tapping was involved in discussions about the community buying the hospital for £20,000. Tapping led a deputation to health minister Lyell McEwin that successfully gained the government’s agreement to cover half the cost. The hospital’s community committee quickly raised the other £10,000, with large Port Adelaide companies such as ICI and Adelaide Cement Company contributing.
LeFevre Community Hospital was born.
Community control from 1950 of the LeFevre hospital and its maternity wing came with complaints that “these same people who helped buy this hospital have to pay between £10-£12 per week for a bed, plus the usual hospital charges for the theatre and sedatives etc, then on top of that the doctor's bill. Twenty-five to thirty guineas is the average hospital charge for two weeks. Admission to the hospital is limited to those who are patients of one of a group of local doctors.”
The LeFevre community hospital board pressed on to solve the staff problem and secured a seven-roomed stone house at Derby Street, Semaphore, for use as nurses’ quarters.
Following a medical incident in 1989 the hospital was placed in liquidation, then sold and closed in 1995. It now serves as a residential care centre.
Ref: ADELAIDE AZ