Sarina Hospital’s spine-chilling past

What had to happen to make way for the town’s hospital

THE unassuming brick Sarina Hospital building that sits atop a steep hill on Hospital Road looks like any other structure built in the early 1960s.

But local historians say these grounds were not only a place for the sick and injured - they were once home to the dead.

That's because the Sarina town cemetery was once situated at the base of the hill where the hospital now sits.

Sarina Museum volunteer Paul Carroll said workers had to remove the contents of the graves, and the headstones, so they could make way for the hospital.

"They dug them all out and took them down to the current cemetery. Nobody complained about it," Mr Carroll said.

"They got all the remains out of the bottom of each grave."

He scoffed at the suggestion the site could still be haunted by spirits of the disturbed remains.

But despite the hospital's eerie past, the historic building holds plenty of happy memories too.

Museum volunteer Pam Carey's mother, Sister Pat Bagley, was a nurse at the Sarina Hospital from 1963.

"My Mum did the afternoon shift there. She would start at 2pm and work until 10pm. But she would then have to sleep there on call for the night and do the day shift the next day," Ms Carey said.

When the hospital opened in 1962, Sister Bell Atherton was the first matron, Sister Myra Dobie was the first nursing sister, Mrs Mary Place was the cook and Mrs Rye was the laundry lady.

"We believe it was a 12-bed hospital to start with. It had a small theatre, which was also the labour ward as well," Ms Carey said.

"There were nurses' quarters at the back of the hospital and the matron had her quarters at the end."

Ms Carey and Mr Carroll said while a majority of the community was happy to be getting a new hospital built at Brewers Road, it was a shame to think the old hospital would be demolished.

"I should imagine it could be able to be used for something else - possibly a rehab centre," Ms Carey said.

"We have a lot of younger people and newcomers to the town and I think those people are wanting new things.

"They haven't got the connection with the original hospital that the likes of us have. But as a whole, I'd say the community is happy about it."

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