The Te Kopuru Hospital in Northland
This cache is located near to the site of the former Te Kopuru Hospital - there is no need to cross the fence to go into the hospital grounds - these are dilapadated and should not be entered under any circumstances.
In 1899 a Hobson County Council meeting was held to discuss the establishment of a hospital in the area, and two offers of land were made by Mr. FJ Dargaville and Mr. AE Harding, the former's offer was in Dargaville and the latter in the Mt Wesley area. Dargaville was the founder of the town and Harding was another notable early citizen of the district, representing Aratapu on the council.
Locals could not come to an agreement on a site and no further action was taken.
The Timber Workers Union eventually decided to take up the matter, establishing a hospital on the lines of a similar one working at Mercury Bay.
Mr. Wordsworth of Te Kopuru was approached and consented to give the land upon which the hospital now stands, the county clerk valued it at £120 this was accepted by Mr. Wordsworth and on payment being made he donated the whole sum to the hospital. Eventually after much fundraising by residents of the district, the hospital opened on the 23rd November 1903.
The site was ideal for a hospital at the time due to the booming Kauri timber industry in the area. Now home to 500 people, at the peak of the log boom the town was home to 3,000 people. A number of sawmills and shipbuilding firms were located here as well as banks, a pool hall, shops, a cinema, post office and in later days a bus and taxi service. The sawmills in particular supplied a steady stream of patients to the hospital in what was at the time a dangerous occupation.
By the 1950s the Kauri logging industry had died and health services were moved to nearby Dargaville when a much larger hospital was constructed with better facilities. In 1959 the main hospital block, by then being used as an aged care facility was destroyed by fire. Miraculously all 24 residents were rescued by the staff with the elderly patients reporting tales of heroism. Completely gutted, the hospital's days of providing care were over.
The cache is a bison tube camoed and hidden in a large man-made object. No need to enter the hospital grounds or climb any fences.