Bulli Hospital’s upgrade won’t be complete without recognition of the community’s efforts to get it built – and keep it open.
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That’s the view of Keira MP Ryan Park who has called on the state government to ensure the rich heritage of the facility is not forgotten.
With work underway on the $50 million transformation of the facility into the Bulli Aged Care Centre of Excellence, Mr Park suggested a monument could be installed to pay tribute to the site’s history.
“The government needs to understand that this was a community-built hospital – it was built due to the efforts of the local miners and their families who sacrificed some of their wages, and community members who held fundraisers, to get it started,” Mr Park said.
“This wasn’t a hospital that was given to our community by the government of the day, people fought for it and people have kept fighting for it, and I think we need to honour that history as it undergoes this transformation.”
Mr Park put the issue to NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard via a question on notice in state parliament, and was told the project team was “considering how best to acknowledge the heritage of the hospital”.
It was a year after the Bulli Mine Disaster of 1887 – which took the lives of 81 men and boys – that the northern suburbs community first came together for a public meeting to push for a hospital.
Bulli Cottage Hospital was officially opened on May 20, 1893, and consisted of a five-bed male ward and two-bed female ward. By 1908 an additional male ward and operating theatre were opened.
In 1916, the hospital purchased a horse-drawn ambulance and by 1922 it was renamed Bulli District Memorial Hospital.
Growth continued for several decades, but by the ‘70s cracks were beginning to show. In the ‘80s services including maternity were cut and in 2012 – despite a concerted effort by the Save Bulli ED campaign – the emergency department was closed.
The NSW government has since focused on transforming the facility into an Aged Care Centre of Excellence, which is now under construction and is expected to be complete early next year.
The centre, which will include a hospital and a 60-suite residential aged care centre, is being built by NSW Health and IRT Group as part of a public/private partnership.
NSW Health has provided $19.3 million towards the hospital project; an additional $14.5 million came from the Restart Illawarra Infrastructure Investment Fund and IRT is investing $16.6 million.
Parliamentary secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward said the project was “on track and on budget”.
“While it’s important to recognise the heritage of the facility, and we’ll be looking into that, we’re currently focused on delivering a first class health facility that will service the needs of the northern suburbs,” he said. “Especially the ageing demographic.”