Victoria House, Shenton Park

Victoria House was the administration and wards building of the hospital later known as Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital. Opened in September 1938, it replaced some of the basic accommodation used by the infectious diseases hospital, which was established in 1893, when smallpox patients were isolated in tents.

 

The hospital treated infectious diseases before developing a major role in rehabilitation following the polio epidemics of the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1954, Dr George Bedbrook established Australia’s first dedicated paraplegic unit there, which became internationally recognised for its work in spinal injury care.

 

Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital closed on 4 October 2014, with rehabilitation patients and services transferred to the newly built Fiona Stanley Hospital.

 

The former hospital grounds have since been redeveloped as Montario Quarter, named after Sir George Montario Bedbrook. The heritage-listed Victoria House has been restored and adapted for new uses as part of Hesperia’s development, completed in 2023, with apartments built around the original building.