October 25, 2022
Thirty current and former staff of Murgon’s Castra retirement home got together for a reunion lunch at the Murgon Services Club recently to renew old friendships and recall the facility’s history.
Castra is named after the first house built in Murgon, which was constructed by sawmiller Mr G.W. Nutt in 1904.
Nutt called his house ‘Castra’ (“Camp”) and the town sprang up around it soon afterwards when the railway arrived in 1906.
In 1988, the original Castra building was moved to the grounds of the Queensland Dairy and Heritage Museum, where it remains today to give visitors an insight into how the district’s early settlers lived 118 years ago.
When the former Murgon Shire Council built a 32-bed residential aged care complex in Cooper Street in 1978 to provide for the needs of the district’s older residents, the Council named the new facility in honour of the pioneer house.
In 2008, control of Castra passed to Southern Cross Care; and in 2013, the company opened a modern 66-bed, $14 million complex on the site that it continues to run today.
At the luncheon, former nursing and administration staff mingled with well-known local GP Dr Graham McAllister and former Murgon pharmacist Derek Delbridge.
Dr McAllister provided medical care to Castra residents for several decades, and Derek’s Murgon pharmacy provided medications.
Reunion guests had a pleasant time browsing old newspaper clippings, examining photos taken through the years, and reviewing rare copies of ‘Castra News’ and several Castra yearbooks carefully saved as keepsakes.
They also spent the afternoon dining with former colleagues and swapping stories about their working lives.
The lunch was organised by Pam Berlin.
