The Friendly Society Private Hospital was first established in 1946 when the Bundaberg Friendly Society Medical Institute purchased St Vincent’s Hospital located on Crofton Street.
So what is the Friendly Society? Many people often ask about the origins of the Friendly Society, who makes up the Friendly Society, who owns the Friendly Society Private Hospital and so on and so on?
The answer is, the hospital is a not for profit organisation which is run for the betterment of the community and where all profits are re-injected into the operations of the hospital and not distributed to any third party, this is quite unique in today’s environment of healthcare delivery.
The Friendly Societies began in England in the late 18th century as mutual associations composed of individuals who bound themselves to assist each other under different circumstances, present and future, to shield each other from misfortune, and to support each other in their day of need. Members were mostly working men going from one town to another in search of employment, carrying their principles with them, forming branches wherever they went.
In 1897 the Friendly Societies’ Lodges of the Bundaberg district formed an association to deliver upon the above principles, and in 1919 The Bundaberg Associated Friendly Societies’ Medical Institute was first formed, which would later be known as the Friendly Society Medical Institute.
Following the depression years it was identified by The Friendly Society Medical Institute that there was a need for the Institute to operate a hospital for its members, and so the process for purchasing the St Vincent’s Hospital on Crofton Street began.
St Vincent’s Hospital had previously been a family home for the Cattermull’s who had purchased the building from the Church of England in 1919 who had been operating a Grammar School from the building. Miss Agnes Novakoski was the buildings next owner who transformed the home into the Private General Nursing St Vincent’s Hospital, opening in 1924 to meet the growing community need for hospital services. It was Miss Novakoski who the Friendly Society Medical Institute purchased the hospital from some 60 years ago, creating Bundaberg’s Friendly Society Private Hospital.
At the time of purchase St Vincent’s Hospital was simply a small bush hospital operated from a large timber Queenslander surrounded by large sweeping verandahs that housed nursing quarters under them, a vegetable garden grew within the grounds of the hospital with the garden’s yield used in the hospital’s daily meals.
It is without a doubt that the history and ownership of the Friendly Society Private hospital is quite unique when you consider the landscape of the Australian healthcare industry. The hospital’s not-for-profit status ensures continual reinvestment in all facets of the business including new technology, equipment, facility improvements and most importantly its people.
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