Cottage Hospitals - Value in the Country

War Memorial at Tongala

Printed in the Argus, Melbourne, Vic. Monday 14 September 1925, page 12

"Cottage hospitals will probably furnish the solution of the problem of medical attendance in the country.  They are simply private hospitals owned by the Bush Nursing Association, available for all who need them at fixed rates.  As they have not to pay rent or profit they can be managed economically.  Patients select their own doctors and make their own arrangements with them."

Eighteen months ago when there were only two cottage Hospitals - one at Cowes (Phillip Island) and the other at Sugarloaf Reservoir - the central executive of the Victorian Bush Nursing Association reported upon the proposal to establish cottage hospitals throughout Victoria in the above terms.  The hospitals soon proved their worth and a third was erected at Koo Wee Rup soon afterwards.

The fourth, a model hospital, was opened at Tongala, in the Goulburn Valley, on Saturday afternoon.

The hospital, which was erected at a cost of £1,900, and is of red brick, is one of the most attractive buildings in the district.  It stands on a half-acre section given by the Tongala branch of the Returned Soldiers League, and it serves the double purpose of hospital and war memorial.  The names of 31 Tongala men who were killed in the Great War and in the Boer War are engraved on tablets placed on either side of the main entrance and the dedicatory stone is set conspicuously in front of the attractive porch.  There are three wards, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining-room, a bathroom, a laundry, and a storeroom, and five beds will be installed this week.  Electric light fittings have been erected in readiness for electricity from Yallourn.  Previously the nearest hospitals were Echuca, 17 miles away and Mooroopna, 25 miles away.  The new hospital is under the charge of Sister Rolfe, who has been stationed at Tongala, for several months.

There was a large gathering when the hospital was officially declared open on Saturday. The speakers were introduced by the president of the hospital committee (Mr. A. J. Wood).

The Premier (Mr. Allan), who is the member for the district, said that "there had been much discussion whether memorials should take the form of a public utility or of a monument. In building a hospital to commemorate the fallen dead, Tongala had taken an admirable step. The principles for which Tongala's sons had given their lives and the principles involved in the erection of a hospital were almost identical.   "I heard it said on the Yarra Bank on Sunday," Mr. Allan continued, "that being a Britisher was nothing to be proud of. The honour was worth fighting for, and it is worth holding.  Such buildings as this hospital will help to perpetuate the memory of the principles for which our soldiers fought and died.