Time Warp Tuesday - 1 April 2025

Published on Tuesday, 1 April 2025 at 8:00:00 AM

Welcome to #TimeWarpTuesday! This week we bring to you the next part of our mini-series on heritage places from the Town’s Municipal Heritage Inventory published in June 2000.

Heritage Places - Part 10

“Infant Health Centre AKA Carlisle Child Health Centre [Former]

PH00250-01 Infant Health Centre, Carlisle.

Photographed by HeritageToday for the Town of Victoria Park Municipal Heritage Inventory, that was published in 2000.

Address: 71 Oats Street, Carlisle

“Historical Notes

“Child Health Care became a concern to the WA Government in the early 1900s when the infant mortality rate was very high. To solve the problem, nurses were appointed in 1913 to visit homes, follow up children with ‘detected abnormalities’ and to direct new mothers in the care of their children and themselves. A more formal Infant Welfare Service (Motto: ‘keep well babies well’) was established in 1921-22. However, specialised Infant Health training nurses were not available in WA until 1927/8.

“The number of infant health centres rapidly increased during 1946-1950. The Carlisle Child Health Centre was built under a government assisted programme by the City of Perth. The nurse’s salary was paid by the Government Health Service. The introduction of Child Health Care to the Carlisle and Lathlain districts was a reassurance to new mothers who sought help for their babies.

“Today the Carlisle Child Health Centre continues to be run as a combined effort by the Bentley Health Service (State Government) and the Town of Victoria Park. The State Government provides the staff of one nurse who runs both the Carlisle and Lathlain Centres. The nurse has three certificates, in General Nursing, Midwifery and Child Health. The Town of Victoria Park is in charge of maintaining the Clinic building. Other uses are made of the building, as a toy library also operates from this base.

“Description

“The Carlisle Child Health Centre is built on a utilitarian design repeated many times throughout the Perth metropolitan area. The walls are red brick and the roof is tiled.” (1)

The MHI listed the Child Health Centre, Carlisle as a Category D listing, meaning it was deemed “Significant but not essential to an understanding of the history of the district” the MHI recommended: “photographically record the place prior to any major development or demolition.” (2)

The site was photographed internally and externally on 24 May 2019 and was demolished sometime between late June and July 2019. The photographs of the building as it was in May 2019 are currently being catalogued and will be available to view online in the near future. Some of these photographs have also been included in this post, but please note that only the photograph ‘PH00250-01 Infant Health Centre, Carlisle’ appeared in the original MHI entry in 2000.

Do you have memories of taking your baby or young children to visit the nurse at the Child Health Centre in Carlisle? We’d love to hear about it and see photographs if you have any. Please get in touch via telephone: 08 9373 5500, email: vicparklibrary@vicpark.wa.gov.au or in person at 27 Sussex Street, East Victoria Park.

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