Emily Fry and Jessie Sinclair open their Parkwynd hospital in 1915; Ashford also started by nurses, 1935
Parkwynd Private Hospital continued to operate in the former Victorian Toms family house of that name.
Image courtesy Parkwynd Hospital
Emily Constance Fry and Jessie Margaret Sinclair on May 26 1915 opened Parkwynd Private Hospital at the end of Wakefield Street, Adelaide, in a Victorian house with that name and formerly the home of the Toms family.
The “Misses Fry and Sinclair”, nurses from Adelaide Children’s Hospital, had glowing newspaper coverage for their grand opening day when "a large number of people accepted the invitation to view the beautifully appointed rooms.”
A newspaper reported continued: “The airy wards, their harmonious colour schemes, spotless beds, comfy lounges and easy chairs, suggested that it might be a pleasure to be ill amid such surroundings. The operating theatre is admirably appointed, and at the first shudder of the mysterious looking appliances, one realises that here everything is right up to date. Flowers were everywhere, in the wards and offices and in the spacious side veranda and after viewing the various rooms we had a dainty afternoon tea at little tables scattered around the lawn and veranda.”
The hospital progressed through the early days of a two world wars and an economic depression, thanks to strong dedicated matrons. The first matron of Parkwynd was founder Jessie Sinclair (1915-32). She was followed by Sister Laura Jenkins, who’d been a nurse in the Australian army and saw active service in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt and France. The Healthscope corporate group bought Parkwynd in 1994 and continued to operate it.
Another of Adelaide’s 21st Century private hospitals, Ashford on Anzac Highway, was founded by two nursing sisters in 1935. They sold it in 1950 joint venture between Unley, Mitcham, West Torrens and Marion councils, with a group of local doctors, who ran it as Ashford Community Hospital. It was later taken over by the Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance (ACHA).
