23. Birthing Houses
As you walk along Wollombi Rd, there are a number of what were called Birthing Houses. These houses were a combination of pre-natal care facility, delivery room, and general practice doctors surgery and served the estate (or sub-division) they were located on. They served a similar purpose to Private Hospitals today. These houses gave women the choice of birthing their children in a “medical” environment, or going through the process at home with the aid of a midwife.
You will see an example of one at 147 Wollombi Rd which is over 100 years old. There was another located at 154 Wollombi Rd, however this has since been moved in its entirety to Millfield.
The practice of using these birthing homes stopped in the late 1940s when hospital facilities became more readily available.