Mayne Medical School, Herston

Usually when I am out taking photographs for this blog, I prefer to see sunlight and blue sky. It's certainly more comfortable for the photographer, and usually gives better results too. But I can't control the weather, and sometimes I have to go out in the rain. This time, the overcast conditions and occasional shower were beneficial - look at the saturated colour in today's building, which is the Mayne Medical School at Herston. The school was named after benefactors James and Mary Emelia Mayne.

(Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

The building was designed in Renaissance style by Raymond C Nowland, who was the chief architect in the state department of Public Works during a time when the government was introducing projects to keep the economy ticking over and unemployment at bay. The Doric columns above the front steps are a feature of the building, which was opened in August 1939 by the premier of the day, William Forgan Smith. The Medical School is shown below in a photograph taken in 1940. The statue of Hippocrates present in the foreground of the top photograph was unveiled in 1996.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #27228-0001-0005)

Nowland's work included the police barracks on Petrie Terrace, the dental clinic in Turbot St and numerous government buildings elsewhere in the state. Forgan Smith and his Labor government were keen on providing an excellent education system in Queensland, and Dr Raphael Cilento's work on tropical diseases was a motivating factor in the planning of the medical school. The Mayne Medical School has now provided more than seventy years of medical training to the state's doctors.

Click here for a Google Map.

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