In 1910, as Wagga awaited the opening of a new hospital, disgruntled patients levelled serious allegations. Photo: Chris Roe.
Australia is blessed to have one of the best health systems in the world and in September last year, America’s Commonwealth Fund ranked us as the top-performing country in 2024.
While there will always be issues with such a large system and the complexities of healthcare, the current list of complaints is nothing compared to the challenges of the past.
In 1910, one Riverina hospital made national headlines over accusations of filthy conditions and an infestation of vermin.
Australia’s first hospital was established in a tent in Sydney Cove by Governor Phillip and Surgeon-General John White soon after the first load of convicts staggered ashore in 1788.
In 1790, a prefabricated hospital made from wood and copper was sent out with the second fleet, along with another festering delivery of England’s most wretched.
Over the next two decades it evolved into a squalid network of tents and wooden structures where patients, unfortunate enough to find themselves in its overcrowded wards, were plagued by bed bugs, lice, and rats in addition to poor hygiene and rampant disease.
Without any available funds from Britain, Governor Macquarie struck a deal with local entrepreneurs in 1810 to build a new, permanent structure that was to be funded by convict labour and rum.
The infamous “Rum Hospital” was a sprawling, shoddily constructed institution that fared little better than its predecessors in the hygiene stakes. It was not until the arrival of the Florence Nightingale-trained Lucy Osburn in 1868 that things finally began to improve.
The Wagga Hospital on the corner of Tarcutta and Johnston St featuring the fountain that now stands in Victory Memorial Gardens. Photo: Geoff Turner/Facebook.
Wagga Wagga’s first hospital opened in 1856 in a small slab cottage on a sandhill off Kincaid Street.
In 1859, the Wagga Wagga District Hospital moved to a new building on the corner of Tarcutta and Johnston streets, where it remained for more than 50 years.
The hospital was relocated for a final time to its current spot on Edward Street in 1910 and it seems that some in the community couldn’t wait.
“THE WAGGA HOSPITAL – FILTHY CONDITION OF PATIENTS,” screamed the headline on the Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times on March 11, 1910.
“Sensational charges amounting to a grave scandal have been made concerning the condition of the Wagga Hospital.
“For some time rumors have been circulated that the hospital patients were in a filthy condition, but little credence was given to the reports.”
A visiting committee had gathered evidence and first-hand accounts which claimed that the condemned building was “literally swarming with vermin” and patients had elected to discharge themselves “rather than continue their sufferings”.
The Age reported that “everything possible was now being done to render the hospital free from vermin”. A contractor had soaked the building in pure Lysol and the beds had been taken down and treated “thoroughly”.
But several months later there was a twist to the tale as in June, the Age proclaimed “UNSUBSTANTIATED CHARGES”.
The story explained how committee member Stanley Allen had “formulated a series of charges against the administration” that were “supported by statements signed by ex-patients”.
However, when none of the witnesses appeared at the subsequent investigation, Mr Allen “wrote asking permission to withdraw the charges, expressing regret and tendering his resignation from the board of management”.
The committee was “highly incensed” and declared that the complainants “should be branded as unmitigated liars”.
A resolution was passed granting the matron access to the letters of complaint and supporting her right to “take any action against the writers” should she desire to do so.
In September 1910, thousands of residents turned out to celebrate the opening of the region’s new hospital by the NSW Premier, Sir Charles Gregory Wade.
