THE history of the Leeton Soldiers Club is not one I personally know a lot about.
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I knew it was once the town’s hospital, but that was about all.
Some of the staff at the club once commented the hospital had a morgue and the conversation quickly grew around which part of the facility it could have been – this enlightened my curiosity and so my researching began.
I discovered the building was originally built as a home for the Commissioner of the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission (WCIC).
By 1926 it was leased out as a private hospital called “Allynbrook”, but, due to difficulties with moving stretchers up and down the staircases, it was closed in late 1939. By 1940 the building was leased by the RSL.
Upstairs areas were used for league purposes while the RSL utilised the ground floors. Renovations and improvements to the building were completed on June 2, 1945 with a new library wing being officially opened that afternoon.
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However, during the early hours of the very next morning, the building was almost completely destroyed by a fire.
Through the efforts of returned servicemen, a liquor license was granted and so over the next four years the Leeton Soldiers Club was rebuilt, reopening in April 1949.
Sometime in early 1960 the land was officially sold to the RSL for one pound, on the condition it remained the sub branch’s permanent home.
Thus far, that is all I have discovered - not much about the hospital and certainly nothing about a morgue.
No doubt there is much more to this story and I look forward to learning about this unique piece of our town’s history.
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