April 16 1977: On the road again after many decades of rest, the Horse-Ambulance
of Bega Valley features in the procession held on the occasion of the opening of the
Bega Family Museum. The Ambulance driver is Arthur Tygh.

The longed for ambulance service was established through the unfailing
efforts of the Florence Nightingale of the district, Sister Bernice Smith
(1903-1984) and through her generous contribution of £100.
Understandably those who wished to use the vehicle of mercy had to
supply their own horse or else hire one. The policy was spelt out in the
Bega Budget of January 29 1906:

THE HORSE AMBULANCE OF BEGA VALLEY
Among the countless treasures lovingly preserved in the Family History
Museum in Bega is the Horse Ambulance which operated in he early
years of this century. The horse-ambulance or rather the horse-drawn
ambulance came into being as a need to transport acutely ill or injured
persons to hospital or medical help. The need was accentuated by a
shocking accident in the main street of Bega in March 1902. When
horses drawing the mail coach bolted around the corner of Gipps Street,
the vehicle rolled. As a result Roger Heffernan of Moggendoura was
killed and Nurse Allen of Bega had both legs broken. It was, however,
not until 1906, that the horse ambulance appeared. It was a case of self­
help in those days. Funds for the project came from public subscription,
£67 being necessary for the local firm of coach makers, Whyman and
Brook, to build the carriage.

 

The Ambulance Committee requires that those requiring the Ambulance
will kindly sign the "undertaking" (held by the Secretary or members of
the Committee) to become responsible for the hire of a horse. Where the
Ambulance is requested by wire [the fastest means of communication
between towns in those days], such wire must embody an undertaking to
become responsible for horse hire. Further the Committee desires that
any sum , for such horse hire to kindly forward this amount to the
Honorary Secretary, as funds are not too buoyant. The Ambulance can
be arranged for by any of the Sub-Committee, Messrs James Rixon,
P.Fraser and A.Ritchie.

of course, the horse-ambulance service involved quite a lot of time, first
in communicating the need, securing the means, in transporting the needy
over unmade roads and comparatively great distances, and then, in
returning the vehicle. Jack Burgess (born Bega 1922) who sterns from the
oldest family in the district, that is from 1842, believes that the first use
of the horse-ambulance was to transport a sick person from Cobargo to
Bermagui. In this case, we can imagine the time it took for the particular
party in need to get to a telegraph station and send a wire, for someone to
drive the vehicle from Bega to Cobargo, thence to Bermagui and then
back to its central position. If, however, the good Sister Smith had been
using the ambulance on her rounds then the process would have been less
complicated, though still quite time-consuming. Ben Baddeley (born
Pambula 1910) believes that Buck Howard of Bega was the last customer
of the horse-ambulance.

After some years of valuable service the horse-ambulance fell into
disuse, for the reason that the age of the motor vehicle was beginning.
Initially few could afford such modern contraptions, but it is certain that
both private cars and lorries were used for the transport of the sick and
the injured until the advent of the official Motor Ambulance in Bega in
1934. Though the worthy horse-ambulance had become obsolete, its life
was not over. It made its appearance again on the roads of the district as a
hawker's wagonette. The hawker, like so many on the South Coast, was
not Australian -born. He was a Syrian named George Trad who became
well known on the properties of the Bega Valley and as far south as Kiah
beyond Eden and as far north as Nowra. Norma Green (born Bermagui
1928) and her husband Jeff Green (born Cobargo 1922) recall the sight
and sound of George Trad's wagonette. As horse and carts disappeared
from the road, the horse's characteristic clip-clop became more audible.
Everyone knew when George was around. According to the Greens, the
children spoke uncharitably of George as the Ass-Ass-Assyrian. Many
have called him an Assyrian, others a Syrian. The two terms are easily
confused.