Cairns Hospital
Cairns Hospital, known as the Cairns Base Hospital between 1932 and 2013, is the largest major hospital in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is located at 165 The Esplanade, Cairns North, Cairns. The hospital offers general service to Cairns' population of about 155,000 and other nearby communities. The building complex has a 667 space multi-storey car park with a pedestrian overpass linking it to the rest of the hospital.
History of Cairns
The South American cane toad was introduced to sugar cane fields to the south of Cairns in early 1935 to assist in the control of the cane beetle. The toxic animal developed into one of the worst feral pests in Australia's history, resulting in ecological disaster to many native species. In November of the same year, the Barron Falls Hydro Electricity scheme began to provide power for an era of major industrial expansion.
The city's first commercial radio station, 4CA, becoming operational in 1936, reducing the feeling of isolation during the wet season. In the same year, the former inner-city red-light district of Sachs Street, a name regarded as an embarrassing coincidence to respectable Cairns citizens, had a name change to Grafton Street. Heavy rain associated with a cyclone early in 1939 caused substantial flooding on the Barron River. The floods resulted in the river changing its course, and the mouth of the Barron moved north from Casuarina Point on the northern Cairns esplanade to Ellie Point.