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GNOWANGERUP HOSPITAL The Subject of a resident doctor for Gnowangerup town was a vexed question, but at least by 1914 a registered private hospital had been established by Nurse Glass in a modest building on the corner of Allardyce and 89 McDonald Street. Later after Nurse Glass left the district, this particular building became Connie Badman's Nursing Home. On Saturday morning, 5th May 1919 five members of the recently-elected Cottage Hospital Committee met in R. B. Davies' office to consider what can be done to provide hospital accommodation and a trained nurse pending the erection of the proposed Cottage Hospital. The urgency of providing a temporary institution was recognised, and it was decided to at once make the attempt to secure a nurse. |
ADVERT FOR GNOWANGERUP'S FIRST HOSPITAL @1
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The committee felt justified, in anticipating the raising of money, to offer us inducement to a nurse Mr Parker's large building (for the rental of which an option has been secured) at a rental of one shilling (10 cents) per week and furnished to the value of 50 pounds ($100), and to secure from the Department a continuance of the subsidy of 50 pounds ($100) recently paid to a nurse. Active steps are being taken and it was decided to advertise in the “West Australian," and to write to the A.T.N.A.. the Health Department and to Mr Alex Thomson, M.L.A. It was decided to request the Road Board for a subsidy to the full extent allowed by the Roads Act. Those letters all went forward by Tuesday’s mail. Mr Jas. Bell was elected chairman and secretary pro-tem. of the committee. Early in the 1920s the town obtained the services of Dr. Ian Bateman, Then in 1923 a brick dwelling, built in 1918 by George Parker. was acquired at the northern end of Yougenup Road for a hospital. Sister Pearl Hart was invited to run it in a private capacity, with support of the Hospital Board. After Nurse Glass's departure for Bruce Rock, Nurse Cooper and Nurse McLaren had, for short periods, given medical advice. It was modified and had the operating theatre was on the left of the front door, children’s ward on the right. It became the Hospital in 1923 until the new one opened in 1935. The men’s ward was on the North side - one 4 bed and 2x2 bed wards. These would have been where Davies Street now is. It was called the ‘Cottage Hospital’ in Gnowangerup, the second hospital in town, was also known as the ‘Old Hospital’. This was described as ‘disgusting’ by Nelson Lemmon, who worked hard as President of the local Road Board along with other local people, to get a new hospital built, which was opened in 1935/6. The old hospital was especially uncomfortable during the winter, with no heating whatsoever available. Mothers were required to ‘lay up’ for around fourteen days, and only be allowed out of bed occasionally during the third week. Usually the baby was brought to them on the third day, when the mother’s milk started to be produced. Up to this time the babies supposedly survived without a feed, but in reality were fed bottles by the nurses. At that time, and even up until the late 1950’s, siblings under the age of 13 or 14 were not allowed in the hospital, which caused a lot of anguish for families. On first sight, Sister Hart was shocked at the primitive conditions of the hospital. The garden consisted of a few roses dwarfed by weeds two metres high, the bedside lockers were made of kerosene boxes on wooden legs and the front room was reserved as the doctor's surgery. With immense energy and goodwill she took charge.
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GNOWANGERUP'S SECOND HOSPITAL ON NORTH END OF YOUGENUP ROAD #2 |
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Sister Hart liked people and soon the Gnowangerup community liked her. For her staff, she first had Mrs. Farrell, cook-help and a probationer, one of the first being a Miss Howard. Relations would sit with seriously ill patients in order to give Sister Hart a few hour's sleep or to enable her to slip out to the laundry to wash the maternity linen. It was a young community with many war brides having babies. During the two years that Sister Hart conducted the hospital, eighty babies were born, with no losses. Many of the patients came from Pallinup and the new lands of Borden and Ongerup. Waiting mothers from the latter two districts often arrived some days before and were a great asset, They would bustle around making jam and pickles from the produce donated to the hospital by the greenfingers of the town. Not all Sister Hart's patients were maternity cases. Once a very small boy, Jack Aylmore, was hospitalised who acquired a light diet, but Sister Hart could not tempt him with any delicacy. In desperation she asked him what he would like to eat. Wistfully he replied"If you had any kangaroo rissoles I'd eat them." A few weeks after Sister Hart arrived, the inaugural Hospital Ball was held in the new Memorial Hall and the committee very much wanted her to be present. On the big day a maternity case was admitted to hospital and Sister Hart held out little hope of making the ball, as from experience, babies inevitably arrived at night. However, Mrs. McLean's daughter, Aileen, obliged by arriving at 2 p.m. and the cook-help offered to sit with the mother. At the Ball a Mr. Austin wrote his name in Sister Hart's programme, them failed to put in an appearance for the dance. Later, realising his neglect he apologised but was given an icy reception. Some months later, at another ball, Sister Hart again met a Mr. Austin and condemned him for his previous bad manners. With amazement he denied the charge and produced his brother, who admitted he was the culprit. The innocent Reg. Austin was smitten by his critic and within a year had persuaded her to become his bride. As a result the hospital lost a cheerful, efficient medico but the district gained, for fifty years, a willing community worker. Whilst Sister Hart was in charge at the hospital, Aborigines would occasionally come to the surgery but nothing would induce them to be put into a bed. Once, an Aboriginal woman with a high temperature and in pain with threatened appendicitis was persuaded to be admitted, so the her temperature could be periodically checked. At the 4 a.m. inspection Sister Hart fond the bed empty. Enquiries were made around the district and as far away as Albany, but no trace could be found of the woman. After Sister Hart left, the hospital had its ups and downs. A regular income was difficult to find as not everyone paid their accounts. Mainly it was financed by voluntary subscriptions and charitable functions. The Road Board was reluctant to take the initiative, although individual members were aware of the hospital's precarious position. Finally in 1929 the board promised to subsidize it to the amount of two hundred pounds ($400) and to review the position at intervals. GNOWANGERUP’S ‘NEW’ HOSPITAL MAKING THE BRICKS c1935 Told by Frank Searle to Merilyn Stewart in 2008. “The bricks were made using a steam tractor bought from Katanning by Mick Hicks. He owned a brickyard in Katanning and won the contract. Mick made all the bricks for the new Gnowangerup Hospital. The crew consisted of Mick Hicks, Mick’s teenage son, Frank Searle (aged 15) and Noel Wellstead. The brick making took place near the Gnowangerup Drive in. The crew of four worked four hours at a time nonstop, from 8 a.m. until 12 noon then 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Frank said it was incredibly hard work. He walked home to his family’s house for lunch, as they lived in the town. rank says because it was exhausting that sometimes the workers would put a stone on the feeder in front of the clay which broke the sequence of the machinery. A halt would be called while the necessary repairs and adjustments were made! The water came from the creek which was close by. Twelve bricks were produced at a time, they were wire-cut. The clay was mixed with the right amount of water, then forced along the shute. Mick’s son was the ‘bogger’, he would collect the clay from the clay pit and wheel it up to where the steam tractor was parked. He and Noel Wellstead would then lift the barrow, swing it over and turn it upside down in the same movement. They would need to work together to lift the barrow. Mick then fed the clay into the mixer and Frank cut the clay shapes with the wire. Wood was fed into the steam tractor, which in turn drove a cement mixer. Often Frank had to get into the pit as well as Mick’s son which was a constant worry and real danger as the walls could collapse at any time. Digging out the clay from the deeper layers was a dangerous task. Digging would undermine the wall of the pit and it sometimes cracked and fell inwards. Noel said a local man, Ted Clarke, was killed in a similar accident at the Gnowangerup Roads Board pit in the 1950s."
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NEW GNOWANGERUP DISTRICT HOSPITAL OPENED IN 1935 #3 |
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GNOWANGERUP DISTRICT HOSPITAL BOARD 1935 #4 |
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MARION WELLSTEAD RESTING AT NURSE'S QUARTER c1947 #5 |
DOCTOR WINROW 1960 s #6 |
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MATRON DOROTHY JEAD LILLIMUR BRADSHAW 1927 #7 |
MATRON MAISEY FARR (maybe) #8 |
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GNOWANGERUP DISTRICT HOSPITAL 2010 #9 |
GNOWANGERUP DISTRICT HOSPITAL 2010 #10 |
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Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.
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References: Article: Gnowangerup The Town My Story - Pearl Marshall Image: 5 Marion Wellstead
Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2023 |
