Pioneers SA Learning Hub

Health Timeline

1836 Doctor John Woodforde arrived in the “Rapid”. He was the surgeon to the survey party brought out by Colonel Light. He was South Australia’s first doctor.

1837 Doctor John Young Cotter arrived in South Australia. His role was to provide medical attendance for Government employees and for immigrants and their families. He was also in charge of the infirmary, the goal and the police force.

• The Colonial infirmary was established. It was a small hut measuring about 3.5 by 3.5 metres, with walls of pressed mud. The infirmary was located on North Terrace near the present site of Holy Trinity Church. The money to provide for this came from charity. The first patients had to lie on its earth floor.
• Over time more doctors arrived. Many earned their passage by working as the ship doctor.
• In the early days of South Australia, travel within the Colony was not easy. There were no roads, just tracks. Doctors reached their patients either on foot or on horseback. When riding they carried their medical equipment in saddlebags. When roads became established, the doctor travelled or visited his patients in a gig or dog cart.

1839 Doctor James George Nash succeeded Doctor Cotter as Colonial Surgeon and was important in establishing the first hospital. He arrived in the Colony in 1838.

1840 The first hospital was built near the north-western corner North Terrace and Hackney Road. A few patients were admitted by the end of the year. It housed 30 patients, with room available for another 10 if necessary.

1844 In the early days of the Colony many doctors were not properly qualified, so a Register of Practitioners was established. By 1845, 23 doctors were registered though other records show there were 15 more doctors who came to the Colony. In 1850 there were 52 names on the Register, and many others had been rejected because they did not have acceptable qualifications.

1849 The Lunatic Asylum was built on North Terrace; it remained there till the Parkside (now Glenside) Asylum opened in 1870.

1855 As the population increased a new hospital was needed. Work began on what was to be the first building on the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital. There were eight wards, a surgery, dispensary and residential quarters for the house surgeon.

The first hospital in South Australia operated from a tent near North Terrace and the parklands. In 1841 the Adelaide Hospital was established to replace the Colonial Infirmary that had existed since 1837.