Waterfall Sanatorium / aka Garrawarra Centre / aka abandoned Helensburgh Hospital
History
The history of the Waterfall Sanatorium is a creepy one. The hospital was opened in 1909, used as a quarantine facility for tuberculosis, which ravaged Australia at the turn of the century. With no cure, the highly infectious sufferers were instead contained in sanatoriums, where it was believed that fresh air would help them recover. It was here where people were sent to die. The hospital’s main building housed 180 beds form male patients and by 1912, a new wing for 120 female patients was completed, according to NSW state archives. Due to overcrowding, emergency beds were often placed on verandahs. Until the 1950s, hospital staff buried around 2,000 people in the graveyard nearby. At its peak, a patient was buried every three to six days. The hospital closed in 1958, when antibiotics and modern medicine provided treatment for sufferers and patients were accepted into public hospitals. Today, half of the site has been turned into an aged care facility, but there is still a sizable chunk of the territory sitting abandoned.
The hospital is located in Helensburgh, one-and-a-half hours drive south of Sydney. For more info or old photos, refer: https://expressdigest.com/abandoned...die-and-now-lie-buried-an-hour-out-of-sydney/ and https://www.vice.com/en/article/d75z3x/exploring-sydneys-lost-tuberculosis-graveyard
The Explore
It's been a while since Chris and I have been here (2017). When we went, there was no obvious security, though we were still very very careful because the place is located next to an aged care facility. Today, my friends tell me that motion detectors and cameras have been set up, though people on the NSW urbex group still go here. When we came, we parked a long ways away and walked through the bush, then climbed through a hole in the fence. It helped to go during rain, as the rain blocks sound and hopefully makes any caretakers too lazy to want to make perimeter checks. The site is quite massive - with several small buildings (storage facilities and sheds?) and one massive, main building. We came by day and it was super creepy. I can't imagine how creepy this place is at night! 2,000 people died here, and that's just according to the official figure...We didn't encounter any issues. The only thing is - I wish we had more time, because we didn't do a thorough search of everything. I would definitely like to come back here again, even despite the cameras.
Difficulty: moderate-severe (cameras and motion detectors, probably security personnel too).
Any questions or comments, pop them below or message me privately
(Main building)
