The Old Bega Hospital

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The ‘Old Bega Hospital’ (as it is now called) in Corkhill Place, Bega, opened in 1889.

The need for a local hospital had been evident for some time: people suffering from accidents or illnesses were dying from lack of proper hospital care and, to receive any ongoing care, often had to rely on the goodwill of others or from the hotelliers who happened to be accommodating the only available doctor in town at the time.

The initial moves to build a hospital in Bega can be traced back to 1876, in the aftermath of a scarlet fever pandemic that had swept through the district, but little action followed because no agreement could be reached locally on where the hospital should be sited.

A Government proclamation, in April 1886, resolved that debate. It would be constructed on five acres of the Bega Permanent Common, on the crest of the hill to the south of town. The local newspapers of the day responded by declaring the site was too far out of town and they predicted that years would elapse before any building was completed.

The town, however, had the good fortune of having an Acting Police Magistrate, Leslie McArthur, recently appointed to the town. He had previously researched the formation, construction and operation of several country public hospitals and was able to present his findings to a well-attended public meeting on 12th June 1886.

Despite there being some who viewed McArthur as a ‘Johnnie come lately upstart’, the meeting endorsed the choice of site, agreed that the project should proceed with as little delay as possible, vowed that no obstructions should be allowed to interfere with progress, and appointed a fundraising committee.

Local doctor, Montague Evershed, subsequently provided a suggested design for the hospital (which was ignored) and a government grant to build the hospital was sought.

Two years later the project had advanced to the stage where a board of trustees needed to be appointed and a committee was formed to oversee plans and to call for building tenders.

By June 1887, the Government had approved plans (insisting that plans produced for Taree’s hospital be utilized – a strategy that later was to be criticised locally for adding unnecessary cost to the Bega project) and it committed to funding the cost on a £ for £ basis with the local community.

A local contractor, Mr John Malcolm (who built a number of buildings in Canning Street, Bega, including the prominent (still surviving) ‘Malcolm House’ in Canning Street), won the tender to build the hospital and by January 1889 had completed the building. It comprised a main building of brick, two wooden wings, and two outbuildings for an infection ward and a mortuary. The cost, including extras and furnishings, was £1,175.

The official opening was undertaken by Robert Lucas Tooth, the owner of the Kameruka Estate near Candelo, who donated £50 that day (in addition to £100 he had previously donated, and £150 he would later donate) to help reduce the then community fundraising shortfall.

The hospital was well used and, over a long period, received considerable financial and in-kind support (vegetables, preserves, towels, bed linen, supplies of wood for the hospital boiler, etc.) from the Bega, Candelo, Bemboka and Cobargo communities. A local dairy farmer, Mr C.T. Stiles of ‘Kanoona’, regularly provided new milking cows to the hospital – a practice that was continued by his family until at least 1935, well after Mr Stiles’ death in 1916. (The cows were permitted to graze at no charge on the adjacent Town Common. From about 1925, Mr J.B. D’Arcy was also regularly provided milking cows to the hospital.)

In 1904 the wooden western wing of the hospital was replaced and extended. In 1908 the eastern wing was replaced and extended. A new fever ward was built in 1912 to replace the original structure that had, by then, been destroyed by white ants. In 1914 a new fuel kitchen store boiler was added to provide hot water. In 1918 town gas was connected to the hospital, replacing an old (and costly) carbide lighting system.

Also, in 1918, the hospital was gazetted as a nurses’ training school, providing an employment boost to Bega.

Enhancements to the hospital continued as finance became available. An x-ray unit and electric lighting were installed in 1920. A septic sewerage system was added in 1923 (coinciding with a diphtheria epidemic in the area) and a new sterilizing unit was installed in 1924.

In 1924, the hospital purchased a Ford car to replace its horse and buggy. (One of the hospital’s horses had been affectionately known as ‘Day and Night’, because it worked for the hospital during the day and was used by nurses to visit their boyfriends at night!) In 1928 new nurses’ quarters at the hospital were completed, allowing the hospital’s isolation ward which had been used to house nurses to again be used as an isolation ward.

Local economic challenges in 1928, followed by the Great Depression, resulted in financial challenges for the hospital for a number of years. A community Hospital Contribution Scheme was introduced to bolster income, guaranteeing subscribers access to free hospital treatment. (This scheme continued to successfully operate until 1946.)

Ever-increasing demand on the hospital’s services resulted in three times the number of patients being treated in 1937 than had been treated just a decade earlier.

In 1940, the hospital was connected to the town’s water supply, replacing the then-supply from a hospital well.

In 1946, construction of new nurses’ quarters was completed. These were located 3km away, adjacent to the site of a proposed new (since replaced) hospital that was to open 10 years later, and necessitating a taxi service to be provided, at considerable expense, by the hospital to all nurses at the beginning and end of each shift. This was justified ‘because the staff could not be allowed to live a moment longer than was absolutely necessary under the deplorable conditions at the old home, with three nurses using one bedroom and staying on verandahs.’ The old nurses' quarters were transformed into the hospital’s maternity ward! (And, perhaps unsurprisingly, two of the contracted taxi drivers, Bob Scott and Billy Flood, ended up marrying hospital nurses who were also regular passengers in their taxis.)

The ‘Old Bega Hospital’ finally closed on 2nd July 1956 after the new Bega Hospital had been completed.

The question, then, became what to do with the old facility. The Hospital Board recommended it be used for (a) a boys’ hostel (b) an agricultural farm or (c) an old people’s home.

From 1957 to the mid-1980s the buildings and site served as a NSW Department of Agriculture experimental farm and as a hostel for boys attending Bega High School (a Prospectus from the time boasted ‘The boys are housed in a large brick building surrounded by farmlands, almost two miles from the school, which is well appointed with amenities. A bus takes the boys back and forth to school each day. An attractive feature for the boys is the surrounding Bega High School farm of over 210 acres, where agriculture is taught. A considerable amount of money has been expended on providing comfortable and cheerful quarters for the boys. A resident house master, a member of the staff of the Bega High School, ensures discipline, whilst a resident matron cares for the well-being of the boys as housekeeper’; the high school girls were accommodated in Littleton House, a large family home that had previously been a private girls’ school, at the other end of town in Bega Street), before it gradually fell into disrepair.

In 1990, the site became a Crown Reserve 'for preservation of historical sites and buildings and community purposes' and the old hospital and its grounds and buildings were used by a variety of community arts and childcare groups, a café, and a community radio station.

On the night of 2nd May 2004 (at which time 42 community groups were utilising the old Hospital and grounds) the main building of the old Hospital caught fire, severely damaging the roof, floors and windows, but leaving most of the brickwork, including the chimneys and most of the outbuildings, intact. The building was not insured.

Since then, The Friends of the Old Bega Hospital worked to have the Old Bega Hospital (which is listed on the Australian Institute of Architects’ Register of Significant Architecture in NSW and on Bega Valley Shire’s Schedule of significant heritage items) restored.

Sources: C.S. Day’s history of Old Bega Hospital at C.S. Day at https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=1100009; information from The Friends of the Old Bega Hospital

Image: The Old Bega Hospital in 1988