Dr Montague Evershed

‘The District’s Grandest Old Man’

W.A. Bayley wrote this of Dr Montague Evershed in his 1942 “Story of the Settlement and Development of Bega”:

'The most notable character in Bega’s history was the self-denying, self-forgetting and great-hearted Dr. Evershed…

Rough and mountainous bush tracks provided the only communication in the district, and Dr. Evershed made his journeys on horseback. The only bridge in the district was Russell’s, at Jellat, and, by day and night, in rain, wind and frost, the doctor made his journeys to his patients’ bedsides in the outlying shingle-roofed slab huts of the settlements. In flood-time, rivers and creeks had to be swum. At the time of his arrival, pleuro had decimated the cattle and rust the wheat. Adverse times confronted the settlers. Telephonic communication was non-existent, and the only way to secure the doctor’s services was to ride into town with a message. J.J. Green, of Bemboka, related how he would ride to Bega for the doctor in two hours, but the doctor, not being an expert rider, would take four hours to reach Bemboka. The whole day would be gone before the doctor reached Bega again; sometimes he had to remain all night, and, although the customary fee for these visits was £4, the doctor never troubled if he did not receive it from poorer families.

It is recorded that on returning from a 50-mile ride to attend a sick family he once said, ‘I can’t charge these people; they seem poor’. To him no journey was too long to relieve suffering and pain. He would drive to Tantawangalo, including a change of horses at Kameruka, and collect nothing for it.'

Dr Evershed was born in Sussex, England, and was apprenticed to a doctor there. He became the ship’s surgeon on H.M.S. ‘Sabroan’ which visited Sydney in 1870. There he learned of the need for doctors in many of the colony’s country towns.

He returned to Sydney shortly thereafter as Surgeon on Board the ‘Agnes Muir’ and in March 1873 set up his medical practice in Bega. For many years he was the only doctor serving the area from Tilba to the Victorian Border and west to Bombala…and he had never ridden a horse before moving to the Bega Valley!

He married Louisa Welby, the daughter of a local schoolteacher, and they had 5 children. One of his sons, Arthur Clifford (known as Clifford), was killed in November 1916 while on active service in France.

Montague Evershed was a passionate cricket lover and gardener. His wife was Captain of and later became Patron of the Bega women’s cricket team.

His compassion – especially for those who were not well-off or struggling - became local legend, with the 'Bega District News' noting in March 1928 “If Dr. Evershed had collected one-tenth of what was due to him he would have died a wealthy man” and the 'Cobargo Chronicle' observing that his practice was “never once closed to a patient during his long residence in Bega.”

It's little wonder that, upon his death in 1927, a community committee was immediately formed to erect a permanent memorial in Bega to the man. They eventually decided to erect a clock tower in his honour. It stands at the corner of Carp and Gipps Streets, Bega.