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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
The Oamaru Hospital
The Oamaru Hospital occupies a site on eight acres of land at the top of a ridge, from which an extensive seaview is obtainable. The whole of the buildings are constructed of local limestone, and there is accommodation for twenty-five patients, space having been provided in the original portion for fourteen and in the new male ward for eleven. In the older building there are five wards, together with a vestibule, surgery, nurses' rooms, kitchen, and the apartments of the matron and chief warder, who is also dispenser and steward. The new male ward is a very fine apartment, lofty and well ventilated. The capital operating theatre is equipped with the most modern surgical appliances, and has light from the roof, as well as from the sides. The hospital contains two baths, to which both hot and cold water is laid on. At some distance behind the main building, there is a fever ward, which is fitted up for eight patients, but such is the healthiness of the town and district, that it is seldom in use. The outbuildings attached to the premises comprise a dairy, a cow byre, a laundry of two apartments, a coal-shed and a gardener's cottage. A large piece of ground is in cultivation, as a kitchen and vegetable garden, and the entire requirements of the institution in this respect are thus fully provided for, and a considerable quantity of fruit is also grown. There are also paddocks for the cows, which number three, and a fine meadow in front supplies fodder for winter feed in abundance. Dr. MacGregor's reports on the Oamaru Hospital are uniformly favourable, and residents of the town and district may congratulate themselves on the excellence of the institution.