Plaque 1

This area, currently the foyer, had various iterations within the hospital over the years.

Date unknown

Plaque 2

The current foyer used to be multiple small rooms, one of which was the Matron’s Office and Store. Before this extension was built in 1957, the Matron’s office was within the original building beside the kitchen.

Judy Wake, Matron (photo 1986)

Plaque 3

Hygeine tips from soap wrapping found under Mens Ward during renovations in 2018

Accessible from both the wide internal corridor and the front verandah, the Men’s Ward was part of the original construction in 1924. It is now used as the Community Centre’s Main Meeting Room.

We think this placement of the front path leads to the Mens Ward, c1980s

Plaque 4

Surgical light head, still in place, 2022

The original Surgery and Operating Theatre was located here, within the enclosed verandah. In the 1930s, it was relocated to an extension at the end of the verandah. In 1947, the verandah was opened up again.

Plaque located in western corner of verandah of Main Building, 2022

Plaque 5

This wing is now home to Community Home Care which provides services to assist aged people to continue to live in their own homes.

Plaque 6

Midwife Record Books from 1924 – 1941, held at new Hospital.

Cane bassinet on trolley, part of Old Hospital Heritage Collection

Wide hospital doors still line the internal corridors of the Main Building. This area is now the administration office for the Community Centre.

Plaque 7

Women’s Ward, photo c1980s

Plaque 8

The end of the verandah has been opened up and closed off several times over the years. 

c1970s

c1980s

c1990s

Plaque 9

This wing was constructed off the main building in 1951, with a passage down the centre to access the Children’s Ward and Isolation Wards. The sluice room (washing out bed pans; autoclaving etc) was on the left.

Plaque 10

At the end of the eastern wing of the main building (on the southern side) – added in 1951 –  were single rooms and two isolation wards. These were accessible from the passage off the main building’s eastern corridor.

Photo c1980s

Plaque 11

This was the last addition to the central wing off the main building to the south: the 1924 construction included the Kitchen and Maids’ Room (then Matron’s Office); in 1936 a dining room for nursing staff was added; in 1949 this room was addded as a dining room for domestic staff. Eventually this room was used for storage.

Since the closure of the Old Hospital this room has been used as rentable office space.

Plaque 12

Located next to the kitchen, this was constructed as a dining room for the nursing staff.

It is now office space, leased by Just Home, a community-based group providing advocacy for locals facing housing stress.

Christmas 1989

Plaque 13

c1980s

The Kitchen was constructed with the original main building in 1924. It also housed the Maids’ Room which was later used as the Matron’s Office, until the extension in 1957. At that time the small rooms became part of the kitchen facility (pantry and stores). There is a doorway (presumably added in 1936) through to the Dining Room.

In 1995, Dave Seegar commenced a soup kitchen to support and bring together people from all walks of life who were now calling Margaret River home. Margaret River Soup Kitchen has been serving nutritious, low-cost meals and providing a welcoming and inclusive gathering place ever since. In 200… the kitchen had a commercial refit and is now available for hire by community groups and start-up businesses. On Fridays, Matt and his helpers run a coffee club, affectionately called “Paradise Cafe”.

Plaque 14

One of the last additions, this was built in 1975 as the Birth Suite. It is now home to Margaret River Playgroup.

Plaque 15

c2014

From construction until closure of the Old Hospital, this small timber building was always the Orderly’s domain. Internal walls of asbestos cement sheeting, were removed and replaced in 2021, part of the Community Centre’s longterm ACS removal program across the site.

Post-hospital times, the two rooms are used for storage by Margaret River Playgroup and Margaret River Toy Library.

Plaque 16

c1980s

It was in 1964-65 that the brick laundry was built, no doubt a welcome addition for the domestic staff and an advancement from the open air drying shed. Being made of brick, sets this building apart from the otherwise all-timber construction of the precinct – a sign of the times.

The bricks used for construction were red. These were painted over in the early 2000’s as part of the program to create visual cohesion throughout the Old Hospital Heritage Precinct, as decreed in the Conservation Plan which the Community Centre manages and implements.

Affectionately referred to as the Wash House, the space is hired as an art space and is popular with a range of art groups for all ages. It also maintains its laundry roots, housing a washing machine and dryer for use by people accessing the Communtiy Centre’s emergency relief service.

Laundry beside Drying Shed, c2014

Plaque 17

All hospitals generate a lot of linen to be cleaned – bedding, towels, kitchen napery etc. The Laundry Drying Shed was constructed in 1946 and would  have been so necessary especially in the District’s wet winters. It was in use until the clsoure of the Old Hospital.

For the Community Centre, over the years the covered space provided a shadey area, a theatre venue and a market space. In 2004, it was incorporated into the expansion of Margaret River Community Centre for Children. Look at the fun within the space these days!

1946 was a particularly cold and wet winter; hospital staff were frequently unwell and laundry was near-impossible to dry. The drying shed provided a large undercover drying space to air dry the linen. A covered walkway was also constructed between the Main Building, the drying shed and Margaret Cecil Rest House.

Plaque 18

Every hospital has a mortuary. Built in 1924, it was originally sited on the eastern end of where the Margaret Cecil Rest House would be built – it was re-located to this spot in 1929.

The Morgue is now the Community Centre gardener’s shed.

Looking across from westwern carpark, before Joyce Bennett Building built, photo c2014

Plaque 19

Opening of Margaret Cecil Rest House 1929

1986

Gardens at western end, 2014

2021

OHHT plaque location

Plaque 20

The church at Le Seouf St, date unknown (pre 2002).

Awning removed, presumably during relocation, c2002

An awning, timber doors and decking to link the Old Church with the two neighbouring cottages were installed in 2013.

Plaque 21

The storyboard at Redgate beach, telling of Sam Isaacs heroics. among other roles, Fred Isaacs carted water for the town.

Isaacs Cottage on arrival to the Old Hospital Heritage Precinct, 2001

Plaque 22

Soon after the hospital opened in 1924, it was realised that accommodation was going to be needed for the nurses and matron. The Staff Quarters were very quickly constructed and similar in design to the basic ‘Groupie’ house. The original location was facing the road next to the main building.

Edge of the Staff Quarters cottage in original siting next to main hospital building, photo c1993. Margaret Cecil Rest House in background.

The Staff Quarters went through many transformations during the Old Hospital years. In 19..as the district struggled to retain a doctor, a campaign was launched which led to the arrival of Dr Lagan and his wife Dr Eithne Sheridan from Ireland. They practised from the cottage which is now refrred to as the Doctors’ Surgery.

In 1993, the Community Centre decided to relocate the cottage to open up the site around a grassed quadrangle.

Plaque 23

The use of these rooms during the hospital years is not clear. News clippings indicate it took many years private quarters to be availabled for the matron.

Once the Old Hospital closed, this area became home to the first of the Community Centre’s caretakers, Margot Edwards and Gerry Reilly. The Community Centre’s ethos of supporting the arts led to an Artist In Residence program operating out of the Matron’s Quarters. From…until …Western Australian, interstate and even an international artist joined the program.

For several years the well-established community arts body, Arts Margaret River has been based in the Matron’s Quarters. However, in 2023 Arts MR will return to office space in Margaret River’s Hub of Entertainment, Arts and Regional Tourism (the HEART building). 

Matron Judy Wake, phot0 2014

Plaque 24

In 1924, the hospital started with the single main building, staff quarters’ cottage and mortuary. Additional buildings continued to be constructed, including accommodation for nursing staff in this new building in 1929. The north facing building had many extensions.

The western verandah was only constructed in 1993 and opened the rooms on to the soon to be established grassed quadrangle.

The Red Cross Op Shop first came to the Community Centre in 1991, operating from the brick laundry. It became widely known in its location in the Nurses’ Quarters until the big move to the main street in 2017.

Today, the Nurses Quarters are casual office spaces, popular for hire by counsellors, allied health professionals and ‘hot-desk’ office workers and students.

Before 1993 there was no western verandah. This looks like the back entry.

In 1993, the verandah was added

Ramp added 2018