WA’s only Australian Inland Mission hospital still standing celebrates centenary with Lake Grace community

The only Australian Inland Mission hospital still standing in WA was a place for connection and celebration on Sunday, as a host of people linked to the service gathered for its centenary. A century to the day since its build was completed, visitor centre manager Jo Morgan and Shire of Lake Grace community engagement and events officer Mikaela Counsel celebrated with 144 event-goers to mark the special occasion. Ms Morgan said the hospital building, now operating as a museum, is “the jewel of Lake Grace”. She said the invitation list to the event exclusively included people who had a connection to the hospital, including former staff members, employee descendants, community members who had been born there, and restoration volunteers. In 1912, the Reverend John Flynn began building 15 specialised facilities to serve outback Australia as part of his mission to provide medical services to remote areas. Rev. Flynn established the AIM hospital in the Lake Grace townsite on March 29, 1926. The 100-year-old facility is now one of last three remaining AIM hospitals nationwide and the only one in WA. The AIM hospital was the only medical service in the region within 110km and before its construction, patients had to travel by train or horse and cart to Wagin and Ravensthorpe. Local heritage consultant Michelle Slarke said that while AIM is part of a nationwide story, it is a vital thread in the community’s local history. “It’s important because it holds the story of the people who work there, people born, treated and died there,” she said. “But also the people who worked to restore and save it, setting it up as a museum.” She said the centenary is about “honouring and preserving those histories”. When the current Lake Grace Hospital was opened in 1952 due to a growing population, the AIM facility became a boarding house for teachers and medical staff for some years. Though the building still remains, Ms Slarke said Lake Grace was not completely unscathed by the nationwide demolition of AIM hospitals. She said the State Government wanted to bulldoze the vacant building which had fallen into disrepair by the late 1970s, but a former AIM nurse and cook united the community and successfully rebuffed that plan in 1983. Led by the Lions Club of Lake Grace, more than 100 volunteers spent years restoring the building before it officially debuted as a museum in October 1992. The Lake Grace Aim Hospital Museum contains the old-style wards, duty room, kitchen and laundry to showcase early rural health care. Ms Morgan said it was essential to celebrate the whole-community effort. “The fact the whole town rallied behind it and kept it alive, “ she said. “Not many things are saved these days, so it’s a celebration and credit to the community that kept it going and maintained over the years.”