The Old Bega Hospital Regional Community Cultural Centre

The Old Bega Hospital has no medical facilities.

For hospital services go to the South East Regional Hospital, phone 02 6491 9999. In an emergency, call 000.

Restoration!

The Reserve Land Manager awarded a contract to restore the main building (photo below) in 2023. The successful contractor is local builder Leser Build. The contract was for stage 1 work, mostly at the western end of the building: it didn't include stage 2, mostly at the eastern end. However, there were fewer 'surprises' that we had catered for, so we have also been able to do a substantial portion of the stage 2 work and get more rooms completed. There will still be three rooms at the eastern end which will have no floors and will remain unusable for the time being.

By the middle of June 2024 most of the external work was finished and the race was on to get the internal building work finished by mid August.

You are welcome to have a look in from the outside at any time, but please do not go inside the security fence.

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 lease

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.

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