Oribi Hospital Durban

[Philip Edwards]

Does anyone know anything about Oribi Hospital Durban South Africa, was it a military Hospital during the battle of Madagascar.

[LarsA]

Yes it was, actually in Pietermaritzburg not far from Durban. Google it and you will receive a number of hits.

ATB,

Lars

[Philip Edwards]

Hi, Lars I have Google searched the hospital but it seems to be in different places, I was thinking if somebody's father had been there or had experience of it in the past, I originally thought it was a hospital ship the hand writing was so bad on the service records. Phil.

[roy dadge]

Hi,

Yes, Oribi Hospital is in Pietermitzbeg and my father was there in the period November 1942 to January 1943 with Malaria caught in Madagascar. I hope the following helps.

Oribi Hospital
During the earlier part of 1940 elements of the royal Natal Carbineershad been in training at a camp at Oribi, but this was a very smallestablishment compared to what it was to become within s year. The 1st South African Infantry Brigade had its first clash with Italian forces at El Wak,Abyssinia, on 16 December 1940, and British forces faced the imminent prospectof heavy fighting in the Middle East. The South African Government wasrequested to assist by establishing two 1200-bed hospitals and convalescentdepot for 2000 by the end of December 1940. Events, however, were moving fast,and 500 sick and wounded from the Middle East were expected to arrive in Durbanin mid-November, with another 600 a couple of weeks later. Against this backgrounda decision was taken to convert the Oribi infantry camp into a hospital for 2200 patients. Its situation right on the main Durban-Johannesburg railway linewas no doubt a factor in the choice of the site. Carbineers who had left fromOribi for East Africa returned after a year or eighteen months to find theplace almost unrecognizable, as an extensive hospital in brick hutments hadbeen established in a very short time.

181 Military Hospital, Oribi, was essentially for imperial troops from varioustheatres of war, and was staffed by South African, British and Canadian medicalpersonnel. The wards, mess-halls, staff accommodation, YMCA canteen (tea - apenny; dinner - one shilling and sixpence!) and recreation areas can still beseen today, converted to other uses. Even detention barracks were necessary, asillness and injury were not always guarantees of good behaviour.

The popular Officer Commanding, Colonel O.L. Shearer, of the South AfricanMedical Corps (later to be Member of Parliament for Pietermaritzburg City from1943 to 1961, wanted the physical surroundings at Oribi to be as pleasant aspossible, and saw gardening as a useful activity for staff and a therapy formany of the patients. As a result of his encouragement and personal example,the spaces between the hutments were soon transformed into attractive lawns andgardens. The formation of the Oribi Military Hospital Association brought aboutco-ordination of all entertainments and sports for staff and patients and,together with the fortnightly Oribi News, contributed to he strong communityfeeling which developed.

Kind regards

Roy