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Sir George Bedbrook Spinal Unit
The purpose-built ward
By August 1962, the poor accommodation in Wards 7 and 8 had made the new paraplegic block an urgent project. By September, Health Minister Ross Hutchinson had approved £100,000 towards the block for that financial year. This was a funding allocation, rather than the total construction cost.
Health Minister Ross Hutchinson officially opened the new 40-bed Paraplegic Block on 23 November 1963.
The entrance plaque names F. G. B. Hawkins and Desmond Sands as architects and Watson Construction Pty Ltd as the builder. The later heritage report also identifies Peter Parkinson and Ronald Bodycoat as architects involved in directing the design. Architect Peter Arthur Brent Arney also collaborated with Bedbrook on the design of the paraplegic unit.
The single-storey building had a steel frame, dark brown brick walls, full-height windows and a low-pitched roof. Its steel roof beams extended beyond the walls to support covered walkways along the northern and southern sides. Metal panels with a pressed diamond pattern ran along the roof edges.
Two long internal corridors connected the wards and shared rooms. Toilets, showers, stores, offices and nursing stations occupied the central part of the building, while the ward rooms, dining room and recreation spaces were arranged around the outside. Wide corridors and large sliding ward doors provided room for patients using wheelchairs and for hospital equipment.
The wards included rooms for one, two and four patients. Their position around the outside gave patients access to natural light and views of the gardens. A basement housed mechanical equipment and other building services.
January 2022
Specialist nursing and medical care
In 1963, following Sister Pamela White’s return from overseas training, the hospital began offering a post-basic course in paraplegic nursing for nurses who had already completed their initial training.
Nurse Pamela Bennett recalled the hospital beginning to accept acute spinal injury patients around 1963-1964. Living nearby in Claremont, she was sometimes called in at night to help admit new patients.
Dr Barbara Watson, a consultant anaesthetist at Royal Perth Hospital from 1970 to 1987, worked with Bedbrook to establish respiratory care at the spinal unit. She contributed to his book The Lifetime Care of the Paraplegic Patient, as did anaesthetist Brian Smith, whose work included caring for patients with paraplegia and quadriplegia.
Dr Peter Breidahl, a Royal Perth Hospital radiologist from 1960 to 1992, helped establish an X-ray department at the rehabilitation hospital. His work there contributed to his research into the spine, particularly the junction between the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae.
Nicholas Batalin became spinal unit registrar in 1976, Assistant Surgeon to the unit at Royal Perth Hospital and Royal Perth Rehabilitation Hospital in 1978, and Surgeon to the spinal unit in 1986. His work included providing cover to the major teaching hospitals. He also worked as a consultant to the Quadriplegic Centre from 1978.
April 2022
Rehabilitation and wheelchair sport
Sport formed part of rehabilitation at Shenton Park from the 1950s. Bedbrook and John Johnston helped establish wheelchair sporting activities, with patients taking part in games and competitions as well as their hospital treatment.
In 1957, Bedbrook led Australia’s first team to the International Stoke Mandeville Games in England. Australian athletes later competed at the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960.
Bedbrook helped organise the first Commonwealth Paraplegic Games, held in Perth from 10 to 17 November 1962. They preceded the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, which opened on 22 November.
His involvement continued through international sporting organisations and later competitions, including the development of the Far East and South Pacific Games.
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Team addressed by George Bedbrook (1964) - Photo by Daphne Hilton
August 2022
The separate Quadriplegic Centre
The Quadriplegic Centre opened in 1969. Although closely connected with the hospital’s spinal injury services, it was a separate institution from the Paraplegic Block.
It provided nursing care, extended rehabilitation, respite and accommodation for people who required continuing assistance. Patients could move from the spinal unit to the centre before returning to the community, while others needed long-term residential care.
In April 2008, a joint program began transferring suitable patients from the spinal unit to the Quadriplegic Centre for further rehabilitation and care. This freed up beds at the Sir George Bedbrook Spinal Unit and made better use of the centre’s facilities. It also aimed to reduce the daily cost of care while maintaining its quality. The program accommodated up to ten patients at a time and recorded 28 admissions in 2008-09. Continued funding was unavailable when the trial ended.
The Quadriplegic Centre remained open after the rehabilitation hospital closed in 2014. Its later closure and replacement accommodation followed a separate timetable.
September 2024
Bedbrook’s later work and honours
Alongside his spinal injury work, Bedbrook ran a sports injury clinic with Dr Ken Fitch for 32 years. From 1949 to 1991, he authored or co-authored nearly 70 scholarly and professional journal articles.
Bedbrook stepped down as head of the Department of Paraplegia in 1972 but continued as senior surgeon. He also argued for Shenton Park to become an independent rehabilitation hospital.
He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 for services to the treatment and rehabilitation of paraplegic patients in Western Australia. He was knighted in 1978 and served as president of the International Medical Society of Paraplegia (now The International Spinal Cord Society) from 1981 to 1984.
In 1984, he founded the Paraplegic Benefit Fund, now PBF Australia. The organisation provided a membership-based source of financial assistance following qualifying spinal cord injuries and developed injury prevention and support programs.
His public advocacy also covered hospital staffing and patient care, occupational rehabilitation and road safety. Parliamentary debates in the early 1980s recorded his concerns about staffing levels and the need for rehabilitation to address a person’s medical, social, educational and employment needs.
Bedbrook also opposed redevelopment of the old Swan Brewery site, raising concerns about traffic safety on Mounts Bay Road.
September 2024
Naming the spinal unit
A plaque dated 3 August 1987 records the naming of the Sir George Bedbrook Spinal Unit. It acknowledges his service as a spinal injury consultant from 1954 to 1987.
Some later accounts give 1985 as the naming year. The dated plaque provides the clearest evidence for the formal commemoration in 1987.
Bedbrook died at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on 6 October 1991, aged 69. More than 500 people attended his funeral at St George’s Cathedral, where his twin brother, Canon Frederick Bedbrook, preached.
Patient handling and the therapeutic garden
The unit continued treating patients for more than two decades after Bedbrook’s death.
The therapeutic garden, developed in the early 2000s, included raised planting beds, seating, a pond, a dolphin sculpture and a mosaic feature wall. It was accessible from the patient dining room and covered walkway. Donations of time, money and services were acknowledged on a plaque.
The Ernst Wall within the garden commemorated long-serving Nursing Supervisor Jimmy Ernst. A 2018 road-naming report proposed Ernst Place in Jimmy’s honour and stated that the wall would be conserved in its existing location and incorporated into the public space.
In 2006, the unit received a Western Australian Work Safety Award for a device known as the Aeroplane Pillow. Staff developed it so two people could turn a spinal injury patient without lifting, reducing the risk of manual handling injuries.
The unit also won the Support category of the 2006 Australian Council on Healthcare Standards Quality Improvement Awards. Its submission was titled The Challenge of Change: Implementation of a Safe Handling Policy on the Sir George Bedbrook Spinal Unit.
May 2026
Hospital closure and heritage listing
The Shenton Park rehabilitation hospital closed on 4 October 2014, with services transferred to Fiona Stanley Hospital. Block G subsequently became vacant.
Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital was entered in the State Register of Heritage Places on 12 May 2015. The listing included the Paraplegic Block and recognised its design and association with the development of spinal injury rehabilitation.
The former hospital grounds were subsequently redeveloped as Montario Quarter. New streets, housing and public spaces were introduced, with selected hospital buildings retained for other uses.
Demolition and residential development
Earlier conservation planning proposed retaining the eastern end and entire southern side of Block G, including its entrance, common rooms, some wards, corridors, southern covered walkway and therapeutic garden.
The October 2025 development application proposed substantially more demolition. By then, a person who had been living in the vacant building for several years had stolen copper worth more than $30,000. The building had also suffered extensive vandalism.
Prepared by CLE Town Planning + Design for Human Urban, the application covered eight two-storey townhouses and two apartments at Lot 34, 28 Seymour Avenue. Officer Woods prepared the architectural design, Palassis Architects the heritage assessment and demolition plans, and CaPA Studio the landscape plans.
Only a small eastern portion of the hospital building was proposed for retention. The planning report described this as six exterior walls and part of the steel colonnade, together with the south-eastern courtyard. The retained section would be remodelled to accommodate the two apartments.
Most of the remaining building would be demolished. New townhouses would use brickwork, exposed steel, horizontal forms and other details referring to the original ward. The heritage assessment identified a high impact from the loss of original building fabric.
Bricks and terrazzo lintels were proposed for salvage and reuse. Other elements, including steelwork and stainless-steel doors and frames, would be reused where feasible.
A separate subdivision proposal provided for 25 townhouse lots and the two apartments across the 6,817m² site. The October 2025 application covered eight of those townhouses. A new six-metre-wide laneway would connect Dawes View and Guttmann Approach.
The proposal also involved rebuilding the therapeutic garden in a different location. The heritage report identified the existing mosaic wall for removal and stated that attempts would be made to contact the family of the staff member commemorated by it.
October 2026
Bedbrook’s legacy
Shortly before his death in 1991, Bedbrook approached the University of Western Australia’s History Department about researching the history of Royal Perth (Rehabilitation) Hospital. Professor Norman Etherington connected the project with history graduate Philippa Martyr.
Bedbrook, his colleagues and office staff helped raise funds for a year of research. As the project developed, he encouraged Martyr to include the hospital’s earlier infectious disease years as well as its rehabilitation work. The research became West of Subiaco: A History of the Shenton Park Campus.
Bedbrook’s family also continued its involvement with PBF Australia. His grandson Simon Bedbrook has served as a director.
Bedbrook was inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2022.
November 2026
