The Old Bega Hospital suffered extensive damage in a fire in 2004. Photos: Supplied.
The restoration of the Old Bega Hospital has scooped up two gongs at the 2025 National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards, which took place earlier this month.
The $6 million restoration won the Built Conservation category and the coveted Judges’ Choice award.
The 137-year-old building has a heritage listing for its historical, aesthetic and social significance.
After it was almost destroyed by a fire in 2004, a group of volunteers from the Old Bega Hospital Land Manager and the Friends of the Old Bega Hospital, with no experience in heritage restoration, began an almost 20-year fundraising effort.
The actual restoration work was done mostly between May 2023 and December 2024.
The hospital was built in 1888 and operated as a hospital until 1957. In the following years, it was used as an agricultural college and experimental farm, and a student hostel.
The collection of historic heritage-listed buildings was extensively restored for the old hospital’s centenary in 1988 by a major community effort assisted by government funds.
The hospital and grounds were then used for a range of community purposes, including art spaces, a cafe, community markets and Bega Community Radio Station.
John Reynolds, treasurer of the Friends of Old Bega Hospital group, has been involved with the restoration since 2013. He said before the 2004 fire, 30 community groups used the building.
“The fire burnt the roof down, three floors and gutted everything inside,” Mr Reynolds said. “It was originally built with community funding and we had been trying to get money to redo it.”
In 2014, the quote to replace the roof was $600,000.
“In February 2015, the NSW government said it would give us $600,000 if we raised a further $1.74 million to complete the restoration project,” Mr Reynolds said.
The Old Bega Hospital as it looked around 1890.
Every year, the Friends of the Old Bega Hospital group raises around $5500 from its Spring Fair, a drop in the ocean for the multimillion-dollar restoration.
So began years of applying for grants. Fortunately, one committee member had expertise in that field.
An early milestone was a $100,000 grant from NSW Heritage Near Me in 2015 to have an architect design the project and submit a development application.
“Back in 2019, Member for Bega Andrew Constance said we were one of the most tenacious bodies he had ever come across,” Mr Reynolds said. “Every time there was a possibility of funding, we would go for it.”
Success seemed almost assured in 2019, with $3 million from the NSW Government Regional Communities Development Fund (RCDF) and $421,000 from the Crown Reserve Improvement Fund (CRIF).
COVID-19, however, pushed up the project’s cost by 20 per cent.
The final major injection of funding was $1.55 million from a Federal Government Black Summer Bushfire Recovery grant and $600,000 more from RCDF.
The award-winning restored Old Bega Hospital, complete with a new galvanised-iron roof.
As for the restoration, early on, the volunteers had been directed to the Burra Charter for guidance.
Their choice of Design-5 Architects was astute. The firm is well respected for its work in the heritage area.
No matter the challenges that arose, Design-5 Architects had the contacts to deal with them.
The roof, for example, was complex and the building was constructed in three different stages, resulting in three separate styles.
The volunteers’ selection of local builder Leser Build also proved wise.
A condition of the $3.6 million grant was that NSW Public Works manage the project.
The architect, builder and project manager worked hand in glove to realise the award-winning project.
“I am sure that is why we won the award,” Mr Reynolds said.
A local carpentry firm, Hamma Joinery, was able to replace all the doors and windows in the original styles. Another matched what was left of the original cypress pine floor in the building’s boardroom.
Now just four rooms remain to be restored with funding recently secured from the NSW Government CRIF.
An occupational certificate for the building, which is now wheelchair accessible and boasts a commercial kitchen, is about to be finalised.
The National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards judging panel described the project works as “sensitive, elegantly resolved and a project that sets the standard for heritage conservation”.
The judges also commended the project team for showing “a high level of refinement in the conservation philosophy applied, which appropriately balances the delicate question of when to retain and when to replace. Very impressive.”
“Everyone is amazed at the building,” Mr Reynolds said. “Some people had said we should just bulldoze it and start from scratch, so we are over the moon about getting the awards.”
The Old Bega Hospital will reopen to house people and groups in June 2025, regaining its place as a community cultural centre. It provides modern spaces in a wonderful heritage setting, offering spaces and a connection between people involved in arts, crafts and other enterprises.
