A chance encounter has led to the discovery and restoration of the old Bendigo Hospital tower clock.
Our story begins in 1866 when local clock-makers Joseph and Company of Pall Mall installed a four-sided clock in a tower as part of the recently constructed hospital.
Clocks were a welcome feature of public buildings of the era as many people did not own a time-piece, better known these days as ‘a watch’.
The clock served the community for 123 years before the old hospital building was demolished in 1989 to make way for new facilities. The fate of the Joseph and Company clock was unknown.
In 2024, Angela Mundy, Bendigo Hospital’s Chief Librarian, made a presentation at a Medical History Society of Victoria event in Bendigo where she met Dr Malcolm Dodd, a retired forensic pathologist with a passion for history.
After chatting with Angela about Bendigo Hospital, Malcolm volunteered to ‘clean up the old mortuary’ in Stewart Street. The small brick building was being used as storage for objects that may have been junk or possibly of historical value.
While sifting through a myriad of boxes, “some containing something from 1890 to 1990” and re-organising the space, Malcolm added that he came across parts of the old hospital clock. Malcolm and a friend meticulously restored the mechanism while our Maintenance team cleaned the last surviving face of the clock.
With the help of Jeff Ackland, along Facilities and Management team members, Wayne Ellis, Justin Manypeney and Brentan Coates, cabinets and other furniture were sourced to store and display the huge array of old medical instruments, documents and photographs.
The clock now takes pride and place back in the old morgue, with plans to transform the building into a museum/exhibition space.
A morning tea was recently held in the old morgue where Eileen Hannagan, CEO of Bendigo Health, personally thanked Malcolm and the team members for their efforts on bringing the building ‘back to life’.