The story of the Edward Millen Precinct started in 1911 when Mrs Elizabeth Baillie purchased Canning Location 2 which then became the site of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital in 1912.
The site has held a significant place in Western Australia's history. Initially a maternity hospital, Edward Millen has served various healthcare roles over the years, including as a hospital for Spanish influenza patients in 1919, a sanatorium for ex-service personnel in 1942, and later, a psychiatric center in the 1960s.
Below is a brief summary of the Ed Millen Precinct up to 2006 when the site was gifted to the Town.
The detailed history of the site can be best explained by looking at three key eras from 1911 to 2001.
1911-1920: Midwifery
Founding a maternity hospital
Elizabeth Baillie was a nurse and trained as a midwife at Sefton Hospital in Melbourne. She was among the first group of registered midwives in Western Australia in 1911.
Mrs Baillie purchased Canning Location 2 for £650 in 1911. It was twice the size of the current Ed Millen Precinct, extending from Albany Highway to Devenish Street.
Until the early 1900s, women gave birth at home or at lying-in homes. Elizabeth Baillie had the means, ambition and drive to establish a private maternity hospital in 1912, four years before the state’s first public women’s hospital, King Edward Memorial Hospital, was built. It was the only maternity hospital in the area.
A Global pandemic
Elizabeth Baillie was forced to leave Rotunda Hospital when the State government took it over during the Spanish influenza pandemic. The pandemic hit Perth in 1919, and more than 500 people in the State died.
In 1920 the Commonwealth Government acquired the site to be used as a repatriation hospital and a tuberculosis sanatorium. Mrs Baillie continued to practice as a midwife in other locations of Victoria Park until the early 1930s – first at 13 Gresham Street, Victoria Park in the mid 1920s, then at 18 Rathay Street in the early 30s. She lived at 64 King George Street, Victoria Park with her daughter, Norah Baillie (later Attanasoff), who was also a midwife.
A history of care
Elizabeth Baillie died suddenly in 1939, at about 76 years of age. Her contribution to midwifery and the care of women and other Western Australian community members has been remembered through the naming of Baillie Avenue in 1916, and this amphitheatre in 2020.
1920-1960: a Mansion in the Desert
The landscape in healthcare
When the Department of Repatriation acquired the Rotunda Hospital in 1920, it had a gravel driveway and forecourt. Some of the site was cleared, and the rest was low scrub, banksias and sandy soil. The Comptroller of the Department of Repatriation described the site as a ‘mansion in the desert’ presenting ‘a very desolate appearance, although from the point of view of position it is suitably situated.’
The Department sought advice from John Heath, Kings Park superintendent, as to the best trees for the site that would improve the landscaping, thereby assisting in the recovery of patients. A Head Gardener, two other gardening staff and six temporary labourers were employed to create the landscaped gardens in 1920. In 1955, the lawn area was increased so that the eastern side of the buildings was also landscaped.
The Rotunda's role in a pandemic
The Spanish 'flu pandemic emerged at the end of the First World War, killing more than 50 million people worldwide. Despite a swift quarantine response in October 1918, cases of Spanish flu began to appear in Australia in early 1919.
In Perth, when infected returned soldiers arrived in Fremantle they were quarantined at Woodman’s Point. To cope with the treatment of patients, the Rotunda was taken over by the Perth Public Hospital on 7 June 1919, and received influenza patients until 19 September, when it was closed.
A tuberculosis Sanatorium
On 6 May 1920, the property and building became a compulsory purchase of the Commonwealth Government. At this time, the land was approximately 31 acres, was considered to be worth £1,100 and the hospital buildings £3,700. The total estimated cost was £4,800 and Mrs Baillie was paid £5,000.
The Repatriation Department used the hospital as a sanatorium for ex-service personnel who had contracted tuberculosis. The existing building was converted to accommodation for the staff after new wards were built to accommodate sixteen tubercular patients. Other new buildings included a combined disinfector, sputum destructor, incinerator and fumatory built to the rear of the rotunda, and a building for orderly accommodation.
In 1935 the hospital was extended with two new timber wards. It was re-named the Edward Millen Home, in honour of Edward Millen, British born Australian journalist who was appointed the first Minister of Repatriation in 1917. From 1939 to 1949, Edward Millen Home continued to operate as a sanatorium for civilians as well as returned servicemen.
A rehabilitation unit
In 1949, the Repatriation Commission again took control of Edward Millen Home. It continued as a sanatorium for TB patients as a satellite of the Hollywood Repatriation Hospital.
In 1960, all patients were transferred to the Hollywood Repatriation Hospital, and the Edward Millen Home was converted to a 40-bed geriatric rehabilitation unit. The gardens and extensive grounds continued to be an important amenity.
1968-2001: Care and Rehabilitation
Hillview
In 1968, a new brick and tile building, with a car park entry made from Hill View Terrace was added to Edward Millen House. It became a ward and paramedical building known as the ‘Restoration Centre’ for psychiatric patients.
The Repatriation Department owned Edward Millen Home until 1982, when it was transferred into the WA State Health Department for Mental Health Services. The Rotunda was renamed the Hillview Terrace Clinic; also known as Hillview Terrace Hospital.
Mildred Creak Centre
Hillview Terrace Clinic brought together four units of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Divisions and was for voluntary patients aged 8 to 18 years. This opened in 1984 to provide respite care for children suffering from autism. It was named after Dr W. E. Robinson, a psychiatrist in Perth from 1957 to 1981.
He also established the Mildred Creak Centre for Autistic Children, named in honour of Mildred Creak, the groundbreaking UK doctor who established the diagnostic testing for autism in the 1960s.
Children at Hillview were able to attend Kent Street Senior High School and the East Victoria Park and Victoria Park primary schools while they were in-patients. In 1994, the average length of stay at Hillview was four months. Hillview closed in 1995 and inpatient services were transferred to Bentley Hospital. The Mildred Creak Centre continued operating up to 2001.