History – Warkworth Cottage Hospital

The present Birthing Centre in Warkworth, which opened in 2000, stands on land that once held Warkworth’s first hospital. This was a five-roomed cottage acquired in 1914 to cope with emergency and maternity cases. By 1917, a separate maternity ward had been added.

The Cottage Hospital, as it was known, was the only maternity hospital on the East Coast between Auckland and Whangarei, serving a very wide area. I remember my mother, the youngest in her family of six, telling me the story of her birth in 1920. She would have been the first in her family to have been born at the hospital, but instead was born in the buggy on the way from Hepburn Creek. Considering the distance some women had to travel, I imagine there would have been other roadside births, too.

The Cottage Hospital thrived until 1992 when the Hospital Board decided to close it, against the wishes of the local community. When it closed, many of the items and furnishings went to the Warkworth and District Museum where a permanent display has been beautifully set up. There is a hospital bed, crib and bedside locker with a photo of the old ward hanging on the wall beside it. Old baby weighing scales, glass feeding bottles, medicines, old style layettes, breast pumps, medical equipment and so much more. Even several brass doctors’ plates from general practitioners who delivered many of the district’s babies, hang on the wall. It is a wonderful glimpse at times past.

If you want to know more about the history of the Cottage Hospital and hear some more stories related to it, there will be a Tea and Talk on the hospital by Cheryl Clague, who was responsible for setting up the display. This will be held at the museum on November 11, from 10am to 11am. The cost is $5 and bookings are advised. Phone 425 7093.

Check out the event:

https://www.localmatters.co.nz/events/community/warkworth-museum-tea-and-talk/