From Hotel to Hospital: Lost Christchurch Mystery Cache
HotPJ: Log needs replacing
From Hotel to Hospital: Lost Christchurch
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Related Web Page
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
In 1907, a former public house on the corner of Durham and Battersea Street, Sydenham, was opened as the first women’s maternity hospital in Christchurch.This sixteen bed hospital was to specifically provide care for respectable and married working class women.
Image: The opening of the St. Helen’s State Maternity Home for Christchurch by the Hon. George Fowlds (1860-1930), Minister of Public Health. Image: The Weekly Press, 8 May 1907, p. 53. Source: Christchurch City Libraries File Reference CCL PhotoCD 5, IMG0035.
Founded by the Right Honorable Richard Seddon, his passion to improve the general health and child mortality saw a string of St. Helen’s Homes being built across New Zealand at this time.
It had not been uncommon for busy Christchurch doctors to refer cases to ‘offsiders’ who were unqualified doctors, but knew enough to handle simple or common cases and to act as midwifes. It wasn’t until the opening of St Helen's, that working class women could have safer deliveries in a sanitary and professional environment instead of in their homes, under the care of unqualified midwives.
This cache will take you close to the former location of the former Sydenham Hotel / St Helen's Hospital, an area now given over exclusively to commercial and light industry.
The cache is located very close to the stated co-ordinates in a busy area so you might find it easier outside work hours when the place is almost deserted. To assist you to find the cache complete the following quiz and gain a useful clue (if you want to).
Clue: 12 3456789
1= The founder's nickname was King Dick. Second letter in his christian name.
2= She lived in a cottage beside the hospital. 2nd letter of surname.
3= She was from Wagga Wagga. 1st letter of surname.
4= The hospital became a home for what type of people? First letter.
5= Without lots of these trained women, the hospital would not have functioned. 1st letter.
6 = The hospital was added to considerably under the directorship of this organisation. 1st letter of 3rd word.
7= It was during this war that three Christchurch nurses drowned when the troopship Marquette was torpedoed. 1st letter.
8= How many sets of windows are visible on the ground floor? 1st letter.
9= When she retired, Matron Inglis turned her attention to her love of what? 6th letter.
Answers can be found here: http://lostchristchurch.org.nz/st-helens-hospital-durham-street-sydenham-1907
No room for swaps. Please bring your own pen. Extract and replace logbook carefully.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)