Nurse's Bridge Traditional Cache

Cootamundra, located 385 km south west of Sydney and 318 metres above sea level, is a prosperous rural service centre (current population around 8,300 in the district) whose fortunes depend on its location as a major junction on the Sydney-Melbourne railway line.

Prior to European settlement the Cootamundra area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri Aborigines. It is widely accepted that it is their word 'gooramundra', which possibly means either 'turtle', 'swamp', 'marsh' or 'low-lying', which was adopted in 1861 when the government decided to construct a 'village of Cootamundry'. It was not officially changed to Cootamundra until 1952.

The original hospital was built in 1889 upon a hill north east of Cootamundra until 1910 when the new building was ready to occupy in Sutton Street.  The current building known as the Cootamundra District Hospital was opened in 1910 and in 1981 the Cootamundra District and Mercy Hospitals amalgamated to form Cootamundra hospital.

The Nurse’s Bridge was built between the District Hospital and the two storey nurse’s home in Hurley Street, spanned Muttama creek from this point. An original power pole and light fitting may be seen on the opposite bank. A time switch either side of the creek assisted bridge crossings in the dark, the one switch on a wall of the morgue and another at the back door of the nurse’s home.

In the 1940’s, when the creek rose after rain and the bridge was flooded, duty nurses were forced to and from the hospital by Russ Flaw’s taxi via Parker and Wallendoon streets. The bridge was removed in the mid 1980’s, following closure of the hospital and its transfer to the former Mercy Hospital.

The cache is located at the back of the hospital on the river near where the old Nurses Bridge use to be. (a cache has also been placed near the original hospital location called “Bimbadeen”)

Please hide container as you found it.