Underground Hospital, Mount Isa, Former wartime hospital in Mount Isa, Australia.
The Underground Hospital is a subterranean medical facility beneath Mount Isa with three parallel tunnels linked by a crosscut passage. The tunnels contained separate wards for male patients, female patients, and maternity cases, showing how doctors treated the sick and injured underground during wartime.
Mount Isa miners dug this medical facility in 1942 following the Darwin bombing as Japanese air raid threats increased across Australia. The work reflected how civilians used their skills to protect themselves as conflict drew closer across the Pacific.
The structure demonstrates the adaptation of mining techniques for civilian protection, with local miners contributing their skills to create this medical sanctuary.
Visitors can join guided tours through the tunnels and see original equipment and information displays about wartime medicine. The passages are narrow and low in places, so plan to move slowly and wear comfortable footwear.
The miners who blasted ore from the rock also used their blasting expertise to safely create the medical spaces inside. Their precise placement of explosives allowed them to control tunnel width and height, building a stable workplace for doctors underground.
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