Historical information

Catalogue for the auction of items of the Albert Park Emergency Hospital at the Drill Hall, 178 Bridport Street, Albert Park, under instruction of a combined committee of the South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and St Kilda Councils. The full date is not given.
During the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1919, 34 emergency hospitals were created in Victoria because the existing hospitals were unable to cope with the demand for care. An Epidemic Hospital was set up in the Drill Room at Albert Park, the expenses shared between the South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and St. Kilda Councils, to serve influenza patients from those local government areas. Each Council had three representatives on the Board of Management. Like the other emergency hospitals, the Albert Park hospital operated only for a short time while the epidemic was at its height. As noted in the catalogue, 'the majority of the blankets, etc. were never used.' It is possible that items advertised in this catalogue were auctioned on Thursday 19 August and Friday 20 August 1920.
The items for sale include hospital equipment, furniture, sheets, pillows, towels, building materials, blankets, crockery, cutlery, clothing, furnishings.

Physical description

Document of 3 sheets of white paper (discoloured with age), folded and stapled and printed in black