Yaralla Estate & the Thomas Walker Hospital

jasonnewman · 发表于 2014-7-10 08:29:21

The concept of a long convalescence after debilitating surgery or a lingering illness is almost
incomprehensible in an age when the demand for hospital beds is so great that patients are discharged as
quickly as possible.Yet 100 years go, steamers regularly travelled from Circular Quay down the Parramatta River taking
patients to a convalescent hospital for up to four weeks of rest and recuperation in peaceful surroundings.
That institution, the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital, is still a striking landmark on the river’s
southern bank, about five kilometres downstream from the Duck River and the Silverwater Bridge.Across Yaralla Bay, also on the southern bank, is another and more significant heritage building, Yaralla
House, the work of two of Australia’s leading 19th century architects, Edmund Blackett and John Sulman.
The Yaralla Estate is described as ‘an exceptionally rare example of a large Edwardian private residential
estate in Australia’. Both properties were originally par