A Place of Healing Through the Decades

Tucked away among the trees of Hanmer Springs, Queen Mary Hospital has worn many faces over more than a century. Established in the early 1900s as a sanatorium, it became a military hospital in 1916, where soldiers returning from the First World War were treated for war trauma and shell shock, with Hanmer’s natural thermal waters playing a role in their recovery.

In the decades that followed, the site evolved into a psychiatric hospital before later becoming a centre for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Queen Mary Hospital closed its doors in 2003, ending nearly a century of care. Today, while much of the complex remains abandoned, the restored Soldiers’ Block stands as a reminder of the community’s commitment to preserving an important part of New Zealand’s history.