The Thames gold fields were a treacherous place, so it comes
as no surprise that the idea of setting up a local hospital is not much younger
than the idea of setting up the gold field itself. In March 1868, just seven
months after the gold field was proclaimed, a public meeting was held at Butt's
American Theatre in Shortland (the site of Fresho’s fruit shop and the old
information centre today) to discuss setting up Thames Hospital. Hundreds of
people attended, all with the goal of making the fledgling town a safer place
to live and work.
Searching for gold in the 1860s was a dangerous business.
With most men living in tents or small huts in the first years of the gold
field, it was easy to fall sick in the cold and muddy conditions before you
even got as far as your gold claim. The tent city that first sprang up in
Thames had little in the way of public amenities – no sewers and makeshift
roads were the norm. The hunt for gold was physically and mentally demanding,
with much of the gold found in quartz hidden deep underground in the hills.
Accidents were common, as were illnesses caused by inhaling fumes and quartz
dust. Getting professional medical help to injured miners could be a huge
logistical nightmare.
The hospital’s opening in November 1868 was a huge cause for
celebration, with the New Zealand Herald calling the new building ‘the most valuable
institution yet established [on the Thames].’ Due to the hospital’s small size,
it operated on a subscription system; while anyone could turn up in need of
medical help, men who had subscribed to hospital tickets would take priority
over those who had not, if there wasn’t enough space available. If you didn’t
own a ticket, the doctors had the right to turn you away.
By February, however, Thames’ population explosion had
already rendered the hospital far too small. The hospital had an average of ten
indoor patients and twelve outdoor patients per day; although the New Zealand
Herald noted that on the day it visited there were thirty outdoor patients,
several of which should really be moved indoors. The Herald thought a new
Thames Hospital would need space for about eighty patients to keep up with
demand.
By November 1869, a year after the hospital opened, 101
patients had received treatment at the hospital. Eighty of those patients were
from England or Ireland, and only seven had been born in New Zealand. Forty
people had been involved in an accident, and only ten had subsequently died.
The hospital had proved itself a huge asset to the frontier town.
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