With the expansion to the ED this week, the South Coast Register took a look at the history of Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There was no public hospital in Nowra until the 1950s. The town’s bid for a cottage hospital began when mayor William Holloway called a public meeting on Monday, August 1919 to consider the matter.
Ironically, he wasn’t able to attend because he’d been injured the previous weekend when his horse had run away, capsizing his vehicle.
Eventually a committee was elected, with council agreeing on February 23, 1920 that it had no objection to building the hospital at Nowra Park.
Public subscriptions poured in, totalling 10,000 pounds, and an application was made to the Board of Health for the necessary moves to build the hospital. However, the board turned it down, advising that the money wasn’t enough.
Reluctantly, the committee used the money to erect the Memorial Gates at the entrance to the showground. The memorial built of sandstone has become Nowra’s Memorial Shrine.
In 1942 another committee was formed to pursue the matter. During these years, Nowra had three doctors caring for 3500 residents in town. Nowra doctors were at the forefront in the push for the hospital, however the people of Berry feared that for Nowra to get its hospital, theirs would have reduced status. On this issue, there was to be friction between the town towns for a number of years.
When Health Minister Kelly admitted that Nowra was the largest country town in NSW without a public hospital, car stickers were printed to this effect and a sign was erected at the northern approach to town (pictured).
By April 1949 the hospital site was finally cleared of scrub and on Saturday, May 19, the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital was finally opened. The first patient was young Allan Owen of Nowra and ambulance officers took him up the steps before a crowd of 1500 people at the opening.
Chronological changes to the hospital site
1949- Site cleared
1949- Nowra Brickworks supplied 40,000 bricks for the foundation
1951- A 70 foot tree falls on the women’s section of the newly constructed hospital
1954-X-ray and pathology department established
1958- Construction of maternity wing, nurse’s home, boiler house and laundry
1972- New wing opened
1973- Former kitchen and staff dining room renovated to house children’s ward
1989- Planning begins for methadone clinic
1992- Two new operating theatres added
2001- Second stage of hospital redevelopment