The Old Bega Hospital Regional Community Cultural Centre

Street Stall, Raffle

Friends of the Old Bega Hospital have set up their Bega Street Stall again, on the sunny side of Carp St outside Sportspower (near the Post Office). 

Call by, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10.00am to 1.30pm to have a chat and check out the latest in OBH branded merchandise: T Shirts (new stock arriving any day); our strong linen T Towels; and our limited edition, Bendigo Bank sponsored, 'Put it Back Together Again' Jigsaw, featuring a bird's eye view (provided by photographer Cliff Shipton) of the ravaged OBH Regional Community Cultural Centre taken on the day of our 2022 Raise the Roof Spring Fair. T-Shirts and T-Towels are $20. The Jigsaws come either in a strong rectangular cardboard box for $30 or cylindrical tin for $35. All the merchandise make great presents! And the money raised will be going towards equipping and furnishing the community areas of our restored OBH. 

At the moment we can only take cash for purchases - but the stall is right near a Bendigo Bank hole in the wall! 

And that's not all. Our Street Stall is also selling tickets in Friends new Winter to Spring $2 raffle. Once again our raffle is supported by the Bega business community with Bega Barbeques Galore donating the first prize - a voucher worth $250; second, third and fourth prizes are Barbegues Galore vouchers worth $125, $75 and $50 respectively. One ticket will set you back $2; three tickets - $5; and 8 tickets - $10.  The raffle will be drawn at the Friends 2023 Raise the Roof Spring Fair which will be held on the last Sunday in October, this year, October 29. Make sure you mark that date on your calendar. Friends are working on an exciting lineup for our annual Spring Fair, especially, as this year Leserbuild will be on site to answer any questions you may have about the restoration. And we'll have the annual VEGEMITE® Cooking Competition.   Spring Fair Poster (2MB).

Restoration!

The Reserve Land Manager has awarded a contract to restore the main building (photo below). The successful contractor is local builder Leser Build. The contract is for stage 1 work, mostly at the western end of the building, so it does not include stage 2 work, mostly at the eastern end. See The Plan for details and an overview.

Work started in early June and by the end of August:

  • roof trusses are up
  • fallen chimney is standing again
  • lots of electrical conduit has been installed
  • structural cracks have been repaired
  • many many metres of brickwork have been repointed
  • and the building looks like people love it again.

See front page article in the Bega District News 1 September (you’ll need to be a subscriber to read it) and progress reports on Facebook (just cancel the sign in page if you are not a Facebook member – our page is open for all).

Memories of the 2004 fire

Do you have memories of the 2004 fire? Were you there, were you using the building, were you affected? Gordon Beattie is collecting memories.

Rooms and spaces available for hire or leasee

Short or long term, commercial or community, indoor and outdoor. Reasonable rates. Flexible spaces. Contact the Reserve Land Manager for more information and bookings.

This website is in three main parts:

  1. The Old Bega Hospital and its history
     
  2. The Old Bega Hospital (R.180050) Reserve Land Manager which has legal responsibility to manage the precinct, including hiring and leasing
     
  3. The Friends of the Old Bega Hospital, which is how you can get involved.

The Old Bega Hospital is a collection of historic heritage listed buildings on the outskirts of Bega, on the far south coast of New South Wales. It served the community of the Bega Valley as a hospital from 1889 until 1956.

Construction began in 1888. From 1957 to the mid 1980s the Old Hospital buildings and site served for a time as a hostel for school students and then as an experimental farm before gradually falling into disrepair.

The buildings were extensively restored for the Old Hospital's centenary in 1988 by a major community effort assisted by government funds. The Hospital and grounds were then used for a great range of community purposes, including art spaces, cafe, community markets and a radio station.

The main building was extensively damaged by a fire on the night of 2 May 2004 and lost most of its roof. The Hospital was not insured. The damage has been cleaned up and the building made more or less secure, but the roof is still missing and the interior is open to the weather. Several outbuildings were not damaged, are still used and are available for rent or hire.

The Old Bega Hospital has no medical facilities.

For hospital services go to the South East Regional Hospital, phone 02 6491 9999

The Old Bega Hospital is owned by Crown Lands, part of the NSW government, and since 1990 has been managed by a Reserve Land Manager (formerly a Reserve Trust) established under the Crown Lands Management Act. In September 2014 the then Reserve Trust adopted a strategic plan (2.5MB pdf file) which set out its vision for the future of the site and was the basis of an application for funding from the NSW government. In February 2015 the NSW government offered a grant of $500,000 towards replacing the roof of the main building, conditional on a further $1.74m being found to complete the restoration project. Following that offer, the Friends of the Old Bega Hospital and the Reserve Trust met with many parties to work out what is required to find the additional money to make the restoration a reality. In May 2015 the Trust adopted a draft management plan (800kB pdf), and a draft proposal for a regional community and cultural centre (700kB pdf) to be accommodated on the site once the main building has been restored.

Friends of the Old Bega Hospital was incorporated in 2013 to assist the Reserve Land Manager to restore the Hospital's heritage and community values. Membership is open to all.

Proudly sponsored by:

                             

Also on facebook.

The Old Bega Hospital Reserve Land Manager acknowledges the Yuin people, the traditional Aboriginal custodians upon whose ancestral lands the Old Bega hospital stands. The Old Bega Hospital Reserve Land Manager recognises their continuing culture and connection to land, water and community and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.