qatb

At a meeting held in the Bundaberg Council Chambers on Friday 6 June 1907 under the presidency of the Mayor, Ald A.E. Avenell it was decided to ascertain the views of the principal residents regarding the advisability of requesting the QATB State Executive Committee to open a Branch Centre in Bundaberg. From 29 August to 31 December 1907 officers attended to 120 patients and travelled 169 miles. The honorary staff performed 346 hours of duty. The first patient treated in the casualty room was Thos Pritchard who had sustained a puncture wound in the palm of his left hand while opening an oyster. The first ‘call out’ was in response to a request from a police officer. However, upon arrival at the Railway Station, it was found that the Brigade’s services were not required. The first donation received was from H.A. Skyring and Sons and the first contributor was Mr H.S. Skyring. The next step of progress was in 1912 when a four-wheel ambulance field wagon pulled by two horses and complete with two stretchers was acquired. The splendid service of the QATB by this time had been worthily recognized by the public of Bundaberg and the district with their most generous financial support to the extent that the Committee in 1912 decided to build a new Centre on land that had been acquired in Maryborough Street. Source: www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/docs/history/Bundaberg.pdf

Prior to the formation of the QATB service in Roma, Mr A.C. Hoskins carried out the work of transporting patients to the hospital. He commenced this work in an honorary capacity in 1903. Dr A.A. Doyle then became interested and was responsible for the firsthand litter, which was purchased from public subscriptions. In the work of transportation, Mr Hoskins was assisted by members of the Fire Brigade, namely J.H.D. Grant, J.W. Sparks, Mat Reid, J.J. Graham and Chas Moore. In those days the litter was housed at the Fire Station which was then in the main portion of the town. Transportation was over very rough roads, and the pushing of the litter up the hospital hill was no mean effort. Mr Hoskins gained his First Aid Certificate in 1910 and continued his good work in an honorary capacity until the inauguration of the Ambulance as a Branch Centre of the QATB in October 1915. In November 1913, the QATB Toowoomba Committee established a Sub-Centre in Roma and appointed Mr J.J. Harland as Officer-in-Charge with the rank of Deputy Superintendent. The first important business to occupy the Committee’s attention was the proposal to purchase a motor ambulance, and Mr. H.A. Watson, on behalf of the Wallumbilla residents, guaranteed £50 towards this project. In April 1916, the Ford car was delivered and proved a boon to the service. The report for the month of May showed the car had traveled 57 miles in that month. In 1921, a rail car was purchased to enable patients to be brought in from places on the Injune line during wet weather. The rail ambulance carried two lengths of the line which were placed on the tracks for the car to run onto and then turned to face the way home to Roma. Source: www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/docs/history/Roma.pdf

When a building in Sturt Street was demolished in 1968, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered to inspect the contents of a time capsule, unearthed from within a cavity in the foundation stone of the building. The building was the Townsville Ambulance centre, on the corner of Sturt and Stanley Streets and the time capsule was really just a rusty old tin that had been sealed with solder and placed in the foundation stone of the building when it was built in 1904. At a special ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the ambulance building in 1904, Mr F. Johnson, a life member of the QATB, had the honour of tapping the stone into place. A plaque inscribed with the names of QATB office bearers, fashioned by monumental masons Melrose and Fenwick, was also attached to the foundation stone. Unfortunately, when the building was being demolished in 1968, vandals smashed the plaque on the foundation stone and it had to be patched up. Despite being only a little over 60 years old, the building which had been designed by Townsville architects Messrs Eaton, Bates and Polin, was undergoing demolition because it had been sold to the MLC company, who intended to erect a modern, six-storey office block on the site. The Townsville branch of the QATB had moved to a new, purpose-built premises in Hugh Street, Currajong, in May 1967, after having outgrown its Sturt Street home. Source: northqueenslandhistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/qatb-time-cap...