Royal South Sydney Hospital was a hospital in the southern Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 suburb of Zetland

Zetland, New South Wales

Zetland is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Zetland is located 4 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney....

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Initial efforts to open a hospital in South Sydney began in 1908 when fundraising efforts by local residents saw James Joynton Smith

James Joynton Smith

Sir James John Joynton Smith KBE, commonly referred to as simply Joynton Smith was an Australian hotelier, racecourse and newspaper owner, and Lord Mayor of Sydney....

, local businessman and racecourse owner, elected as provisional president of a future hospital. In 1912, construction of a 25 bed public hospital began and was opened in 1913. in 1917, the title of Royal was bestowed upon the hospital by the King, and capacity was expanded to 110 beds the following year.

In 1976, the present brick buildings were constructed and opened, and the hospital began to specialise in rehabilitation, orthopaedics and community health. In 1991, the hospital merged with the Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney

The Prince of Wales Hospital is a major public teaching hospital located in Sydney's eastern suburb of Randwick, providing a full range of hospital services to the people of New South Wales, Australia...

 and Prince Henry Hospitals. General hospital services, including (controversially) the emergency department were slowly wound down until only community services operated from the location until 2003, when the hospital finally closed and the site was transferred to the South Sydney City Council (later, City of Sydney

City of Sydney

The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia...

 council).

The site currently lies disused, it is anticipated that the hospital will be included as part of the Green Square

Green Square, New South Wales

Green Square is a district in the inner-city of Sydney in the suburbs of Alexandria, Zetland, Waterloo and Beaconsfield. It is located 4 km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney....

town square development.