Dr Evershed Memorial Clock Tower, Bega

The Dr Evershed Memorial Clock Tower in Bega

When Dr Montague Evershed died in 1927 (see entry under South Coast Pioneers) a community committee was immediately formed to erect a permanent memorial in Bega to the man. It was the locals’ way of expressing their appreciation for the contribution he had made to the community over a period of more than 50 years.

Consideration was given to projects as diverse as erecting a memorial fence in his honour, funding the provision of nurses’ quarters at (the then) Bega Hospital, installing memorial gates at the Bega Church of England (‘All knew what a great old churchman the late Dr Everard was’), providing Bega with a drinking fountain (‘but they (Bega) had not the water supply yet’), adding a wing to the Bega Benevolent Society’s Queen Victoria Homes (Dr Evershed was President of the Benevolent Society for many years), installing a memorial window in St John’s Church of England Church, and providing annual education scholarships.

£450 was rapidly raised. In those Depression years that was enough to buy a house in Bega.

Eventually it was decided to erect a clock tower in Dr Evershed’s honour.

It was originally planned to be sited in the centre of the intersection of Carp Street and Gipps Street but, when it was realised this would impede the flow of traffic, it was moved slightly downhill to its present position in Gipps Street.

Sir John Sulman, a highly-respected Sydney architect and town planner and one-time Chairman of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee, provided – at no charge – design ideas for the memorial clocktower to local architect/builder Robert Thatcher who built the tower. Some of these sketches are now in the Bega Pioneers’ Museum collection.

The clock itself was purchased from Prouds Jewellery Store in Sydney. The original mechanism (which was replaced in 2017) is now displayed in the entrance foyer to the Bega Pioneers’ Museum.

Granite for the base of the clocktower was quarried from one of Dr Evershed’s local properties. (Robert Thatcher had also built the War Memorial further to the west along Carp Street and it, similarly, features local granite as part of its base.)

The unveiling of the clocktower took place at night in May 1930. The time was chosen to give local dairy farmers the opportunity of attending the function and to show off the lighting that had been installed to illuminate the tower. The local electricity company also erected temporary lighting for the function.

'The Sydney Morning Herald' (26.5.1930) reported “One of the largest crowds ever seen in Bega witnessed the dedication and unveiling of the clock tower erected as a memorial to the late Dr. Montague Evershed, who practised here for more than half a century… The speakers referred to the life of self-sacrifice and service of the late doctor, who, they said, travelled many miles along bush tracks on horseback in the early days at all hours of the day and night, crossing flooded rivers and creeks to reach patients, and often without fee or reward.”

It is believed that Bega’s Dr Evershed Memorial Clock Tower was the first monument to have been erected in NSW to honour the significant community contribution of an ‘ordinary’ (non-official) citizen.