Former Ulverstone Hospital demolished

The former 1960s Ulverstone Hospital looked not to be in use and had the feeling that it had seen better days as it stood silently, a former shell of what would have once been a busy hospital.  On a recent visit to take some more photographs of the hospital I had trouble finding it.  I passed a large vacant lot with a unit development sign at the fence and soon after realised that this was the site where the former Ulverstone Hospital once stood, it had been demolished!

The 1960s designed hospital reminds me very much of the former Devonport Maternity Hospital that I have regularly documented, and was designed at the same time as the Ulverstone Hospital in the 1960s.  It was a time when public hospitals were undergoing dramatic changes in Tasmania and several examples from the period exist in Tasmania, many though remain in a derelict or demolished state, true of many Government buildings from the Modernist period in Tasmania.

Where the former Deloraine Hospital once stood.

It's amazing to think that in such a short period time a large public hospital has outlived its use under 50 years. One of the major joys I find in documenting such buildings is to highlight not only how such buildings have shaped Tasmania. Equally as important to me are how such photographs serve as a reminder of a particular time and place. Whilst buildings many have been lost forever in a material sense they have been immortalised forever in the still image.