Numbala Nunga, Derby

Statement of Significance

The place has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
the place represents over 120 years of the measures undertaken by the Western Australian government to provide health care to the Aboriginal population of the State’s North West;
the place is rare as the site of a Lock Hospital and is representative of the Government policy from the late 1900s of the relocation, isolation and treatment of Aboriginal people suffering from venereal diseases;
the place is rare as the site of a Leprosy hospital in the 1920s and the 1930s and is representative of the Government policy of the relocation, detention, isolation and treatment of leprosy patients;
the place was the first and only Nursing Home in the Kimberley Region from 1968 until the late 1980s, serving residents that were predominantly of Aboriginal descent and as such the facility worked to retain Aboriginal cultural links where possible;
as the site of the Government Residency (1884), the place is representative of the settlement of the Kimberley by colonists from the mid-1880s, and the important first step in establishing a government in the region;
as the site of a Native Hospital from 1925 until 1966, the place is representative of the then official government policy of treating Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal patients in separate medical facilities;
as a Nursing Home, the place was established with funding from the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Advancement Trust Account, which aimed to help improve Aboriginal health services across Australia following the 1967 referendum when the Commonwealth first became directly engaged in Aboriginal affairs.

Physical Description

Numbala Nunga, Derby, is a complex of shallow pitched fibre cement clad residential and medical buildings that operated as a nursing home from 1968 to 2008, situated on the site formerly occupied by Derby’s Government Residency (1884), Derby Hospital (including Leprosy and Lock Hospital facilities) (1890s-1925), and Derby Native Hospital (1925-1968) and currently occupied by the former Numbala Nunga Nursing Home (1968-2008).

History

Structures previously located at the site include: the Government Residency (1884), Derby Hospital (including Leprosy and Lock Hospital facilities) (1890s-), and Derby Native Hospital (1925). No elements of these places remain extant in 2016.
Numbala Nunga Nursing Home is constructed on the site of the original Government Residency in Derby. Initially, the Government Resident and his clerk lived in two humble temporary corrugated iron houses on the Government Reserve, and the police officials resided in timber thatched shelters. By October 1884, a more permanent Government Residency had been constructed. A police station and quarters (possibly one building) and stables were constructed in 1884 and 1885. It is thought that these structures occupied the south west portion of the Government Reserve.
In the late 1890s, after police services had been relocated to the town centre, a hospital started operating from the Residency Reserve. By this time, the Government Resident was also a medical practitioner and could attend to the patients on site, a trend that continued almost continuously from 1885 until 1915. . The Government Resident continued to live at the Residency until a new Residency was constructed elsewhere in Derby in 1917.
By the late 1890s, a hospital was operating from the Residency Reserve known as ‘Derby Hospital’. It is possible that by this time the hospital was occupying the recently vacated police building/s. It is known that Derby Hospital treated both white and Aboriginal patients.
By 1909, the Government Resident continued to provide medical care and had set up a dispensary in the Residency. By that time, the wider hospital site included a ‘shed’ that was in use as a lazaret (quarantine station for contagious diseases, particularly leprosy).
In 1925, after Derby’s leper population had been relocated to Cossack, the former Government Residency building was destroyed by fire. During the entire period when the former Residency was being utilised as a Lock Hospital and Lazaret, Derby Hospital also continued to function from the site.
In 1925, the Department of Native Affairs took over control of the site and the existing hospital became officially an Aboriginal-only native hospital. This facility was proposed to serve the whole of the Kimberley. The native hospital closed in 1965 and replaced by Numbala Nunga. The buildings on site date from 1968.

Archaeology

The potential for archaeology associated with the Government Residency phase, including the use of the building as a lazaret to be present is Low.
There is little potential for intact artefacts or building remains associated with the operation of the Derby Native Hospital to be present.
Although there is Moderate to Low potential for archaeology associated with the operation of Numbala Nunga Nursing Home to be present, it is unlikely to be of high significance.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.