A HISTORY of the Milton-Ulladulla Hospital will be published before the end of the year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ambitious project is being undertaken by the Milton-Ulladulla Hospital Auxiliary and local authors Phil and Jan Gregory.
The Gregorys recently published a history of the Milton-Ulladulla Anglican Parish between 1860 and 2010, titled Hill and Harbour, and are looking forward to researching the new book.
Auxiliary stalwart Narelle Ober said she had recently started looking into the history of the hospital to determine when it would turn 100.
She found the facility had started as a bush hospital in 1908 and its centenary was actually four years ago.
Mrs Ober started to delve further into the hospital’s history and Phil offered to help. Talk turned to a book and the rest – as they say – is history.
It will be launched before the end of the year, possibly at a formal event such as a ball, with all proceeds going to the auxiliary for the purchase of new hospital equipment.
Auxiliary members including Mrs Ober and Mary Lamb have already thrown themselves headfirst into the project and spent a recent Wednesday morning with hospital manager Judy Nelmes and the Gregorys searching through the hospital archives.
They have already gathered a significant amount of information about the hospital and photographs about days gone by.
They have now put out the call out for assistance from local residents who have had anything to do with the hospital in past years as doctors, nurses, ancillary staff, patients or auxiliary members.
They are wanting to hear any stories or anecdotes from local residents – or former local residents – and are also keen to get their hands on any photographs of the hospital from private collections.
Mrs Ober said she was particularly keen to source photographs of some of the old medical equipment at the hospital.
The book very much be a joint project with auxiliary members helping to collate information with Mr Gregory and wife Jan actually writing the history.
Mr Gregory is hoping to have all the information together by the end of May to provide him with enough time to get the book written and published before the end of the year.
Funding is currently being sought for the project and it is hoped the finished publication will be in colour.
It is expected the book will detail the growth of the hospital itself and community efforts over the years to get the facility upgraded.
“It (the current facility) didn’t just happen overnight,” Mrs Lamb told the Times.
Those people with information that may be relevant for the book are being asked to contact Narelle Ober on 4455 3245 or email johnandnarelle@bigpond.com
Alternately they can contact Phil and Jan Gregory on 4455 7074 or email 4455 7074.
Photographs can be mailed to the Milton-Ulladulla Hospital Auxiliary at PO Box 490, Ulladulla, 2539.
Those people not wanting to post their photographs can bring them into the Times office on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday for scanning.
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL:
According to Nulladolla, a history of the region published by the Milton-Ulladulla Historical Society, the Milton-Ulladulla Hospital had its origins as a bush nursing centre.
It operated out of a large cottage with patients cared for by one or two nurses.
The original hospital building was built by Mr Harold Riley in 1908.
In 1936 the hospital was transferred from the Bush Nursing Association to the Milton District Hospital by Government Gazette and in 1938 to the Milton and Ulladulla Hospital, as it remains today.
The present hospital was opened by the then Governor of NSW, Sir Roden Cutler, in 1967. It has been upgraded a number of times over the years as a result of significant community agitation.
Long-serving staff members at the hospital included Gwenda Mary Porter, who spent 25 years as Matron-In-Charge before retiring in 1972.
Shoalhaven City Council named Matron Porter Driver after her in recognition of her long service to the community.