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Cricket was introduced in Papua New Guinea (PNG) by missionaries from the London Missionaries Society in the early 1900s. Initially, matches were not always played with strict rules, with teams fielding over fifty players a common occurrence. The game became very popular among the Papuan coastal villages where these missionaries and early British explorers first landed. There is still conjecture about where the first game of cricket was played, with Milne Bay, Oro, and Hanuabada the three (3) most likely areas where the first cricket match was played on the shores of PNG. Source: www.icc-cricket.com/about/members/east-asia-pacific/assoc...

In the past, matches were not always played to strict rules, with teams of more than fifty players a common occurrence. Cricket did not arrive in the Territory of New Guinea until Australia took over the administration of the territory under a United Nations mandate. Cricket in rural areas tended to be played mostly by the indigenous population, whilst in urban areas such as Port Moresby the game was played mostly by the British and Australian expatriate population, and competition for clubs in the city was started in 1937. A team of nine expatriates and two indigenous players played in Papua New Guinea's first international, against Australia in 1972. Since its beginnings cricket was picked up naturally in the Motuan areas of Papua New Guinea, most recognizably the village of Hanuabada. Hanuabada village is located in the outer suburbs of Port Moresby, where cricket is played every day by small children to their national stars, every afternoon the streets are flooded with boys playing cricket, this was also where the Liklik Kricket Competition was started in PNG. It may be for these reasons more than half of the PNG national cricket team is from Hanuabada village. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea_national_cricket_team

In the 1850s a pair of settlers, John and Gavin Stewart, obtained forested land near what would become Bundaberg to supply timber to the pastoral industry that had recently been established in the region. A town was surveyed in 1868 on the south bank of the Burnett and was given the name Bundaberg, for the local Aboriginal Australians, the Bunda. It became a municipality in 1880, a town in 1881, and a city in 1913. Bundaberg developed into a centre for large sugar plantations established in the 1870s. It has sugar mills, refineries, and rum distilleries. Other industries include dairying, sawmilling, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of farm machinery. Sugar, golden syrup (treacle), and timber are exported. In December 2010 Bundaberg was flooded by heavy rains that caused the Burnett to rise to its highest level in decades, submerging the city’s eastern district; flood damage also caused the port to be closed for more than two months. Pop. (2006) local government area, 45,802; (2011) statistical local area, 47,946; local government area, 89,810. Source: www.britannica.com/place/Bundaberg

In 1878 concerned citizens decided to address this problem, and formed a Hospital Fund Committee with elected Trustees. Permission was given in May 1879 for a temporary hospital to be situated in Ward 2 of the Immigration Barracks in Finemore Park, opposite today’s Base Hospital. At the same time, according to the Bundaberg Daily News, “3 acres, 3 roods has been permanently reserved for a hospital site.” Plans went ahead to build a permanent Hospital, and in 1880 the tender to build was awarded to Mr Midson, with construction completed in February 1881. Known as the Cottage Hospital, it was a four-room timber cottage, with a kitchen and separate Kanaka ward. In 1898, almost twenty years after the foundation of the first Hospital, the question of a hospital to meet the a growing population was raised by the Hospital Committee. At the time, most surgical cases of any complexity were sent to Brisbane, and the Committee felt it was time to “raise the status of the institution so that a wide range of surgical cases could be undertaken.” This also meant a staff of trained nurses would need to be engaged, and Mr. J.C.Walker, then-Secretary of the Committee proposed that the hospital should be a training school for nurses as well. While an operating the theatre was erected in the existing building, the cost of rebuilding older parts of the Hospital lead to the idea of commissioning plans for a larger Hospital built in brick. Source: www.artsbundaberg.com.au/downloads/file/30/base-hospital-...