By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
IT’S been more than 80 years since the Kyoomba Sanatorium last treated returned World War I soldiers and this year the Stanthorpe RSL Sub-branch is launching a research program into the centre.
Returned soldiers suffering from tuberculosis were treated in the sanatorium and on Saturday 25 April the Stanthorpe Sub Branch RSL along with project co-ordinator, Deborah Wheeler will launch their initial findings.
The first five broadsheets will be available to read on Anzac Day and will outline the project in the hope of gaining information and material such as photographs, letters and documents to add to the growing collection.
“A website will be launched on Anzac Day with the first five broadsheets and we are hoping for any living relatives of medical staff or ex-servicemen who were patients there to come forward with any information they have,” Ms Wheeler said.
The initial broadsheets will have snippets of information on the sanatorium.
“It will include the date it was first commissioned to be built, the lady that commissioned and built it and information about how she offered it to the Defence Department and how they saw the importance of it and bought it off her,” she said.
Ms Wheeler will spend the first 12 months of the project researching the sanatorium and stage two will be spent writing a limited edition thesis-style reference book for the Stanthorpe RSL Sub-branch.
“There are only a handful of local residents still alive who have any personal memory relating to the sanatorium, and the main priority of this project is to contact as many people as possible to generate interest in the project,” she said.
Ms Wheeler will be collecting data from state archives, local libraries, the Stanthorpe Museum, local newspapers, the National War Museum, National Library of Australia and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It is essential to record and document as much information as possible about the important role the sanatorium played in the treatment, care and rehabilitation of members of the Australian Imperial Forces and the impact that this had on the local community,” she said.
The Stanthorpe RSL Sub Branch has been granted more than $6000 from the Queensland Government Regional Arts Development Fund and Southern Downs Regional Council to help fund the project.
