Over a century of hospital support

Collecting committees, cake stalls, Christmas hampers, luncheons and straightforward donations have all been organised down the years to keep vital medical extras and equipment flowing to patients and hospital staff.

The Mooroopna Hospital was the first to benefit from the auxiliary ladies’ diligent efforts.

A notice in the News in September 1904 titled "Mooroopna Hospital" announces "a public meeting for the purpose of co-operating with Cosgrove in devising some scheme to assist the above institution is convened to be held in Victoria Hall, Dookie".

Attendees were given lists of people and businesses to follow up for the collection of donations.

A notice the following year goes on to say: "It is expected when the canvass is completed that between £70 and £80 will be subscribed, which is regarded as extremely satisfactory and proves that the people of this district are not backwards in subscribing to as worthy an object when asked to do so".

These earliest known references to the Cosgrove-Dookie Hospital Auxiliary continue with the formation of a collecting committee in 1911.

In 1917 Cosgrove ladies were thanked for donating 44 dozen eggs to the Mooroopna Hospital.

The people of Cosgrove and neighbourhood were again recognised in 1919 for their "charitable and patriotic movements". A dance was also being organised in aid of the Mooroopna Hospital "and it is confidently hoped that the monetary results will be fairly substantial".

More than a century later the good ladies of the Cosgrove-Dookie Hospital Auxiliary are still raising funds — now for Goulburn Valley Health.

President Rosie Harker said as well as raising funds, the auxiliary was a great social experience for people in the area.

“A lot of people need these social outlets — they really do. People feel they're helping others and they get the enjoyment of seeing people as well,” Mrs Harker said.

She said the community support was always first class.

“With our cooking and everything else, if we just ask, people honestly say they'll do something. We don't have to knock on doors or anything. People who are not members often just donate hampers or boxes of food just to help out,” she said.

Over the years the ladies have sat outside Shepparton supermarkets and shops with collecting boxes, held market stalls, organised luncheons, clay bird shoots and wine and cheese and film nights, and staged concerts.

In 2014 the auxiliary's first open garden weekend raised $9000. The event, spotlighting up to five local gardens, continues to be a popular and lucrative fundraiser.

In 2017, the auxiliary's open gardens weekend received the Community Event of the Year award in the Greater Shepparton Australia Day Awards.

An auxiliary fashion parade featuring 56 gowns made by Dookie dressmaker Una Feldtmann raised $3246 for GV Health in 2016.

GV Health Foundation director Carmel Johnson said the Cosgrove-Dookie Hospital Auxiliary ladies would have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the hospital down the decades.

“It's really quite extraordinary. This group of women has worked tirelessly over the years — dealing with drought and fires and boom and bust economies — and they are still contributing to the hospital,” Mrs Johnson said.

She believed the Cosgrove-Dookie Hospital Auxiliary to be among the oldest hospital auxiliaries in Victoria.

“They are a remarkable group of women,” she said.

Last year's fundraising efforts were curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions, but the social engine is firing up again.

“We had a Christmas party lunch at the Dookie pub when restrictions eased a bit. We all felt we really needed to get together,” Mrs Harker said.

She said the annual general meeting was scheduled next month.

So sharpen your pencils, get out the 2021 calendar and stand by for more events involving cakes, gardens and lunches from the busy ladies of Cosgrove and Dookie.