St John of God Halswell

About

The congregation of the Sisters of St John of God was founded in 1871 in Wexford, Ireland. In 1895, Perth's Bishop Matthew Gibney sent a request to the Sisters for help to care for people suffering from typhoid fever during the 1890s gold rush. The first hospital established under this arrangement was at Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s followed shortly by another in the Perth suburb of Subiaco.

The Sisters often cared for patients with infectious diseases including typhoid and Hansen's disease (leprosy), which spread quickly in crowded mining camps. In 1937, after much lobbying by Sister Mary Gertrude, the order established a hospital for Aboriginal Australian patients with Hansen's disease, outside of Derby.

The Sisters of St John of God went on to establish additional hospitals, pathology and social outreach services in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

In 2007, St John of God Health Care merged with the services previously operated by the Hospitaller Order of St John of God in Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.

In 2015, St John of God Health Care expanded into public health care and took ownership of Hawkesbury District Health Service and opened St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals.

In May 2025, the Sisters of St John of God announced plans to close the Sisters of St John of God Heritage Centre in Broome, Western Australia. The former convent has operated as a museum and archive since 1995, and many Aboriginal families with links to the area are concerned about what will happen to the historical photos and documents, many of which could be the only copies of such documentation in existence. As a result of being a privately owned collection, these documents and photographs are not protected by state legislation and as a result, could technically be destroyed without recourse available to family members and descendants of the Stolen Generations survivors. The Sisters of St John of God have long had links to the Broome area, having arrived at La Grange Mission (also known as Bidyadanga), 200 km south of Broome in 1957 to teach the children living in the mission. At the time the Sisters of St John of God arrived to La Grange, Missions continued to house Aboriginal children and young people, most of whom had been forcibly removed from their families for the purpose severing ties to family, language and culture under the guise of protection.

The symbol used by St John of God Health Care is a cross with a pomegranate. The cross symbolises the Christian heritage of the organisation; the pomegranate, which is open to allow the seeds to scatter, symbolises self-giving and represents the organisation's values.

The pomegranate symbol was chosen by the Sisters of St John of God to reflect the order's patron Saint, John of God, who ministered to the sick and poor in the Spanish town of Granada – ‘pomegranate’ in Spanish – in the early 16th century.

St John of God Health Care operates private and public hospitals, as well as disability, home nursing and social outreach services.

St John of God operates 13 medical/surgical hospitals, one rehabilitation hospital, three psychiatric hospitals, three day hospitals and one oncology centre across Australia. It also operates home nursing services in Western Australia and Victoria, social outreach services in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and supported residential facilities for people living with a disability in Victoria and New Zealand.

- Hawkesbury District Health Service: established in 1996, Hawkesbury District Health Service replaced the old Hawkesbury Hospital which was built in 1955. In 2015, St John of God Health Care acquired the Hawkesbury District Health Service from Catholic Healthcare. As of 2018 [update] the facility has 131 beds and three operating theatres. Its cancer care unit opened in 2017.

- St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital

- St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals

- St John of God Murdoch Hospital and Surgicentre

- St John of God Carine Specialist Centre

- St John of God Halswell – a 51-bed facility residential and respite support service and three community homes for people with acquired brain injuries, physical and neurological disabilities.

- St John of God Wellington – a 36-bed residential care facility for people with physical disabilities.

- Hawkesbury District Health Service: established in 1996, Hawkesbury District Health Service replaced the old Hawkesbury Hospital which was built in 1955. In 2015, St John of God Health Care acquired the Hawkesbury District Health Service from Catholic Healthcare. As of 2018 [update] the facility has 131 beds and three operating theatres. Its cancer care unit opened in 2017.

- St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital

- St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals