Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Infectious diseases hospital in Yarra Bend, Melbourne, Australia.
Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital is a former infectious diseases hospital in Yarra Bend, Melbourne, made up of several brick buildings arranged across a riverside site along the Yarra River. The complex included isolation wards and treatment facilities, and the surviving structures are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
The facility opened in 1904 under the name Queens Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital and treated thousands of patients during major outbreaks over the following decades. It closed in 1996 after nearly a century of operation, by which time it had become the main reference point for infectious disease care across the region.
The name recalls the suburb where the hospital was built, and many Melburnians still associate this place with how the city once handled contagious illness. The original brick buildings remain on site and show how thoroughly the layout was designed to keep patients separate from the surrounding community.
The site is now used by Melbourne Polytechnic, which means the grounds are open during the day and the original buildings can be seen from outside. A weekday visit works well because the campus is active and the setting along the river adds to the overall experience.
In the 1980s, this hospital was among the first places in Australia to develop HIV testing, and it later housed the country's last dedicated infectious disease ward. These two facts place the site at the center of a much broader story about how Australia responded to modern epidemics.
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