Conversations with Rita at PMH

Today I spent some time walking through the newly opened former Princess Margaret Hospital grounds on a beautiful sunny day. While looking at the blue metal plaques mounted along the top of the eastern brick wall, I struck up a conversation with a woman named Rita who was also having a look around.

The plaques contain a lengthy timeline of the hospital's history and I commented that I was impressed by how much effort had gone into documenting the site's past. Government interpretation panels are often fairly brief but this felt different. The timeline stretches for a considerable distance and covers a remarkable amount of history. Standing there reading it, I found myself thinking I probably need to lift my own game. My own Princess Margaret Hospital project is still far from complete.

Our conversation then turned to the pedestrian tunnel. I mentioned that it was a bit sad to see the artwork had changed. Change is inevitable but for many people the tunnel and its artwork were an iconic part of travelling to and from Princess Margaret Hospital.

Rita said she had never really been a fan of the chimney stack, describing it as somewhat bland. That changed when it was painted with artwork and lit up at night. I agreed and mentioned that one of the unfortunate aspects of the redevelopment is that we probably will not see much of the chimney once the apartment towers are built. When she asked how tall they would be, I estimated around 16 to 18 storeys, possibly six to eight buildings. Rita thought that seemed quite high.

From there the conversation drifted into housing and homelessness. I mostly listened while Rita shared her thoughts. One point she made was that political parties need to work together more often, particularly governments and oppositions. People are never going to agree on everything but there is little value in opposing something just because you don’t like the person proposing it.

We also spoke about housing affordability. Immigration is often blamed for many of the problems although Rita pointed out that Australia has also failed to build enough housing over several decades. It’s easy to point to immigration as the cause but the reality is far more complicated. We also spoke about Australia's tendency to take a "she'll be right" approach to problems, assuming that global events will not affect us, only to discover later that many of those same pressures eventually arrive here as well.

It was one of those conversations that starts over something simple and ends up covering far more than expected. Two strangers standing in the former Princess Margaret Hospital grounds discussing local history, redevelopment, housing and politics on a sunny afternoon.