The Adelaide Children's Hospital Poor quality of life and
premature death for destitute and poor children were two reasons
for the establishment of the Adelaide Children's Hospital in
1876. In the same year the newly formed Health Board began
investigating the reasons for such a high number of sick
children in the colony. The Board determined that a hospital for
children was desperately needed, land was secured in North
Adelaide (the current site of the WCH) for the sum of £2,500 and
the Foundation stone was laid on June 20 1878. After a fanfare
of trumpets the Hospital was declared open by Lady Jervois, wife
of the Governor of SA and hospital patroness. The first in-
patient was admitted that day and in less than two months 36
patients had been admitted. By the end of the first year the
'little charity hospital for the poor' had five nurses and 168
admissions which did not include children under the age of two
as at this stage they were not accepted for admission. Currently
some 19,000 children are admitted t