BOPDHB History Whakatāne Hospital History Book | Page 20

site of Jean Guerin’s flour mill which was destroyed by Te Kooti’s followers in
1869 when they ventured down the valley to attack the residents of Whakatāne
Township. After Rev. Soutar died in 1905, his sons continued to farm the land
and it then became known as the Soutar Brother’s Farm.
Limbrick’s Hillcrest site
Efforts to obtain details of this property have not been successful. The Whakatāne
Town Board Rates book (1915, 1917, 1919) shows that Mr William A Limbrick
had several properties (on the Rangitaiki Plains, the foreshore of Whakatāne and
in Waimana) but there is no evidence of his ownership of land in the Hillcrest
area. However Mr Limbrick was a land and stock agent and so it is likely he was
offering the land on behalf of a client.

As a 1922 article in the local newspaper25 reported:
About 1914-15 the need of hospital accommodation became urgent in Whakatane county
following the great increase in population. The board leased a mission home from the Anglican
diocese and equipped it as a cottage hospital. Since then it has been decided to erect a thoroughly
modern hospital to contain 28 beds, with women’s, children’s and men’s wards, the latest style
operating theatre and X-ray plant etc. The building will be erected in concrete. Ample and
comfortable accommodation is to be provided for the nursing staff, a cosy cottage with nine
bedrooms being part of the building planned. When this building is erected Whakatane will
have the most-up-to-date hospital in the Dominion and a hospital quite in keeping with the
requirements of this rapidly growing district.
In a speech given in 1923,26 the Board Chairman, Mr Peebles had this to say:
It became apparent that a hospital was needed at Whakatane and the board entered into an
arrangement with the Anglican diocese for the use of one room in the Mission Building and put
a nurse in charge. It was necessary later on to take over the whole of the property, add additions
and put a staff in to run it as a temporary hospital. This was all right for some time, but later it was
found inadequate for requirements so it was decided that a hospital should be built at Whakatane.
The people of the county provided money for the purchase of the site, and the board instructed the
architect to prepare plans. It was estimated that the building would cost £16,000 but the Department
at Wellington intimated that a larger and more fully equipped building should be erected so that the
plans had to be considerably altered making the capital cost considerably greater.
On a separate but related issue, on 27 September 1917,27 the Board met and learned that the Inspector
General of Hospitals had recommended that the district be divided into two hospital board districts.
The Bay of Plenty Hospital Board’s District was constituted and the Board was to have 8 members. The
Tauranga Hospital Board would have nine members and the old Board’s assets were to be split in the
same proportions in order to provide funding for the two separate Boards.

Anon, “Bay of Plenty had its first Hospitals in 1920s”, (Whakatāne Press, 1922) (Media clippings
scrapbook “Hospital” , Whakatāne District Museum & Gallery)
26
Alex Peebles, “History of the Hospital”, (Whakatāne Press, March 21, 1923) (Media clippings
scrapbook “Hospital” , Whakatāne District Museum & Gallery)
27
Bay of Plenty Hospital and Charitable Aid Board Minutes, Volume 2 (17.09.1917 to 25.03.1938)
27 September 1917 (Auckland, Archives New Zealand, Reference ADHL A1669 22975 7)
25

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