So as the now-rebranded Cobdenhealth prepares to celebrate the service’s 60th birthday, chief executive officer Leonie Rooney said it seemed only right that a tree planting should form part of the celebrations.

“It sort of upset the locals a bit,” Ms Rooney said of the tree’s felling, “So we’re replanting a blue spruce in the garden.”

It’s one of the ways that Cobdenhealth is paying tribute to the past and looking to the future at its diamond anniversary next week.

The Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital became reality after a hard-fought community campaign that began in the 1940s.

The community finally got the ear of Premier Henry Bolte, who suggested a bush nursing hospital rather than a public hospital. The doors opened in 1958 and a health service of some kind has remained on the site ever since.

Someone who knows more than most about the hospital is Anne Primmer, who was a nurse at Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital and later Cobden District Health Services for 44 years.

Ms Primmer, from Port Campbell, said the biggest change had been the closure of the hospital in 1998 and the shift to aged care.

“There was only 18 beds, I think, but we did everything,” she said of the bush nursing hospital days.

“We did dentals, theatre, everything.”

Ms Primmer began work on New Year’s Day 1973 and her love of caring for others helped her notch up a record service before retiring a year ago. 

“I just love working with people... That’s my thing,” she said.

Ms Rooney said it was people like Ms Primmer who made the service a success.

“It’s such an integral part of the local community and has been through history. There are so many families that have made it happen and keep it going,” she said.

Celebrations begin at 2.30pm on Wednesday, February 21 with the ceremonial tree planting and afternoon tea.

The health service will then hold a fete from 11am-2pm on Saturday, February 24, with funds raised going towards a planned community gym. Saturday evening there will be a staff reunion at the golf club from 6.30pm.