First World War billboard at State Library of Queensland

By JOL Admin | 4 April 2018

QANZAC100 billboard at State Library of Queensland, 2018

QANZAC100 billboard at State Library of Queensland, 2018

Those of you who have visited State Library recently might have noticed a new image on the large billboard running along the Stanley Place side of the building. The image is a panorama of medical and nursing staff at Yungaba, Kangaroo Point Military Hospital (6^th Australian General Hospital), taken in 1917.

Inside the ward at Kangaroo Point Hospital Brisbane 1916, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Neg. 6801-0002-0009

A major medical facility in Queensland during the First World War, the hospital began operating on 19 July 1915 and was closed by the end of June 1919 when staff and most patients were relocated to the Military Hospital at Enoggera.

Panorama of Medical and Nursing Staff at Yungaba, Kangaroo Point Military Hospital 1917, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Acc. 29250

Built in 1887, Yungaba is a heritage-listed building at 102 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. Originally established as an immigration centre, Yungaba received its first immigrants in 1888, but during periods of reduced immigration, the centre was used for a variety of other purposes. In the depression of the 1890s it became an employment agency and temporary refuge for the destitute. In 1901 it served as a reception centre for soldiers returning from the Boer War, and was requisitioned for use as a military hospital during both the First and Second World Wars. Known variously as Yungaba Immigration Depot, Immigration Barracks, and No.6 Australian General Hospital, Yungaba was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.