Mount Isa Underground Hospital & Museum

Venture underground at Mount Isa Underground Hospital and discover how residents lived in fear of being bombed.

With the advent of World War II and the bombing of the Darwin Hospital, precautions were taken to protect Mount Isa district hospital in the event of an air raid. As history will tell, the Japanese did not reach Mount Isa, therefore the Underground Hospital was not used or needed. However right up to the 1960s night shift nurses would sleep there as it was cool, dark and quiet.

As the new hospital was being built in 1959 construction damaged the Underground Hospital. The local community protested and the remainder was saved and left to deteriorate.

Vandals burnt out the timbering and in 1994 the community had to decide what to do with this unusual structure. The underground hospital was restored and has since received a prestigious award from The National Trust of Queensland for heritage restoration.