BY 1935, finding that the expanding town of Wauchope was now well and truly eclipsing Port Macquarie, and demand for hospital beds had outgrown the accommodation at 'Wildfels', Dr Begg decided to build a new hospital to his own design.
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He purchased enough land to accommodate his new cottage hospital directly across High Street from 'Braeside', this large (for the times) and compact Private Hospital opened in 1937.
This was to become the start of the Wauchope District Memorial Hospital as we know it today.
As Wauchope continued to grow so did the demand for medical services and hospital accommodation.
The subsequent additions to the hospital buildings were financed by Dr Begg himself.
Naming of Wauchope District Memorial Hospital
In an article titled "From 'Wildfels' to W.D.M.H.", the then President of the Wauchope District Historical Society, Rae Young, said, "The late Mr Cliff Morris gave a brief outline of the origin of government control of the hospitalisation in Wauchope. Mr Morris explained that, 'Until the year 1945, the hospital requirements of Wauchope were supplied by a Private Hospital - 'Wildfels' - owned and controlled by Dr Begg, this being the position for twenty years previously.
"Cliff Morris said, 'In 1945 meetings were held in Wauchope to organise a case for the removal of the District Hospital from Port Macquarie to the centre of the district and railhead at Wauchope.
"This case was lost, but the Hospital Commission established a Hospital Board at Wauchope with the object of raising funds for the building of a Public Hospital at Wauchope, the Commission obviously being opposed to a private hospital in Wauchope.
"Shortly after the establishment of this Board, Dr Begg reported to the Commission that owing to manpower controls then in operation, he could not staff his hospital and the Commission immediately resumed the hospital and ordered the already established Board to take over, find staff, and control operations - a gigantic undertaking as not one member of the Board had any knowledge of hospital administration.
"The Hospital was renamed 'The Wauchope District Memorial Hospital', and classified as an 8-bed 'obstetric unit' with four beds for emergency cases to be moved to the District Hospital, Port Macquarie at the doctor's discretion.
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"Mr Morris concluded by saying: 'Despite all the drawbacks, shortcomings and conditions, not once in 27 years has the W.D.M. Hospital closed its doors as a haven to the sick of this town and district and is now well worthy of the reward of a long-promised new building."
In a further undated report from the Hastings Shire Gazette, obviously agitating for the building of a new hospital in Wauchope, it was reported in part on the classification outlined as an 8-bed 'obstetric unit': "Such classification of 'general' cases was doomed to failure from the outset, yet it continued for some two years, with constant friction between the Board and Commission."
Following pressure, the hospital was reclassified as 'general' hospital, thanks chiefly to the personal efforts of the then Minister for Health, Mr Gus Kelly. Two more doctors came to town, and although still officially a 12-bed unit, the bed capacity was slowly increased by some approved and some unapproved allocations.
The Commission, which had delayed completion of the purchase from Dr Begg, acquired five acres of land east of the present Bowling Club and offered a plan of a weatherboard hospital to be built on this site. To a man the Board condemned both the building and the site, and persuaded the Commission to complete the purchase from Dr Begg. Ultimately, the Commission disposed of the land in King Street, and on the Board's recommendation, began acquiring properties in High Street as they became available.