Page 100 - Port Douglas Magazine 26

MOSSMAN’S MATRIARCH

Est. 1930

WORDS by Howard Salkow
ne would not be mistaken to label the nurses who fell into them at the wrong times was made to transfer over to the sugar town of
this region as hallowed. It is the … nurses confined to their quarters if they were Mossman in 1930.
only place in the world with two caught out after 10pm … the damage caused by Plans to establish a hospital in Mossman began
Oadjoining World Heritage listed Cyclone Agnes of 1956 … the matrons who ruled as early as 1913. In January 1923, a motion was
areas: the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet the wards with an iron first … to the ignominy carried by the hospital committee to erect a
Tropics – which includes the ancient Daintree that nurses could only practice if they were single. maternity home in Mossman. In September 1924,
rainforest. From the time the hospital was moved from Port a special general meeting was held to consider
Couple that to the laid-back tropical lifestyle, Douglas to Mossman, it has been a cornerstone of the question of building a hospital at Mossman to
the magnificent Four Mile beach, exploring this the community and a much-loved institution for replace that of Port Douglas.
region with its breath-taking views, you can only the many loyal doctors, nurses and general staff. On December 13, 1928 the Port Douglas Hospitals
acknowledge this is paradise. This was best articulated by BL Smith, Chairman, Board formally agreed on the establishment of
There is still more. The ancient town of Mossman, Mossman Hospitals Board, in his foreword to a hospital in Mossman. The design of the new
a mere 15-minute drive from Port Douglas, “Mossman Hospital – Our First Fifty Years”, a hospital by Dick Hill of the Cairns architectural
features the 1896-built Mossman Mill and pubs/ commemorative booklet marking the Golden firm Hill & Taylor featured a Spanish Hacienda
hotels that date back to the same century. Jubilee of the hospital’s opening on August 23, design and was to be made in reinforced concrete.”
Any visit to Mossman must also include a brief 1930. The move to Mossman was not welcomed by
stop at the Mossman District Hospital, located on Believing that there may only be “mild interest” Port Douglas residents who sent a petition to
Hospital Street, which is the route you’ll take to in a commemorative booklet, he wrote, in part: the government. But this was at a time when the
Mossman Gorge. “Perhaps, I underestimated the value of a hospital business centre of the shire was already shifting
Over an 88-year period, the 1930-built Mossman to a small country community, and I certainly from Port to Mossman, which saw the post office,
District Hospital has a charming history and a had no real knowledge of the high regard and court house and banks, among others, set up in
deliciously-stacked smorgasbord of stories. esteem in which the majority of the residents in Mossman.
From a feral pig who lost its way and entered the the Mossman district held this institution, nor What emerged, and is now an icon of the area, is
hospital via an open back door, and was chased of the fond memories held by many of its former a structure which is unsurpassed and viewed as
along the hallways until escaping through a employees.” unique. It was added to the Queensland Heritage
window … the World War 11 air raid drills and It was in or around 1878 that the Port Douglas Register on June 12, 2009.
the trenches which became a stumbling block for Hospital pioneered the hospital services for the And this has not been lost on the many who have
district and this continued until the decision
100 tourismportdouglas.com