BOPDHB History Whakatāne Hospital History Book | Page 42

As the demand for accommodation and services continued to grow the temporary hospital was soon
found to be inadequate to meet the district’s demands. It was at this time that the decision was made
by the Board to push for a purpose-built hospital for Whakatāne.
In late 1919 and early 1920, plans were being drawn up for a 24-bed hospital together with a nurses’
home and in August 1920, Wellington approved the calling for tenders together with approval for a
£20,000 ($40,000) loan to be raised. By this time the site of the present hospital had been agreed to.
Also early in 1920 the Board, realising that there were likely to be delays in the construction and
equipping of the new facilities, reached an agreement with the Anglican Māori Mission and its
hospital in Bridge Street was taken over by the Board to become what was effectively the first Public
Hospital in Whakatāne. A permanent night nurse was employed at a salary of £100 ($200) a year and
a suggestion was put forward that the Board should buy portable huts (surplus Army huts) for use in
isolation cases, as ‘tents and marquees are unsuitable in wet weather’.
This hospital was only to be a temporary one while the various agreements as to plans, funding and
the necessary Government approvals were sought for the new permanent hospital. However the
decision to continue to operate out of the Bridge Street site was fortuitous as the building contracts
for the new hospital were not signed until July 1922 and the new purpose-built public hospital was
not officially opened until late in the following year.

The Whakatane District Hospital, Stewart Street, opened 13 September 1923
Late in 1922, readers of the Whakatāne Press52 were able to read the following:
...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.
*The X-ray equipment was presented by the Whakatane County Returned Soldier’s Association ‘in
memory of their comrades who fell in the Great War.’ The Association raised £179 which, together
with a Government subsidy, paid for all the equipment.
Soon after agreement had been reached on the purchase of a part of Kirk’s farm, the Board began
to occupy the land. In April 1920 a 100 square foot portable hut was moved onto the site as a
temporary hospital and several tents and marquees were also erected. By May 1921 all the concrete
blocks required for the new hospital building had been produced and stored on the property but
erection was then delayed until June/July 1921 when the foundations were laid. In August 1921
additional buildings such as accommodation for the Nurses and other staff were being erected at the
Mission Hospital site to ensure that services could continue there during the construction of the new
hospital.

52

Anon, “Bay of Plenty had its First Hospitals in 1920s”, Whakatāne Press 1922 (Media clippings
scrapbook “Hospital” , Whakatāne District Museum & Gallery) p1

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