The growth of Murroona Gardens is a proud story and one in which the people of Bowen can take considerable pride, as it is their willingness to help build the facilities and their generosity which has made Murroona Gardens what it is today.
Murroona Gardens has grown from what was a Bowen Rotary project which commenced in 1964 with the building of two pensioner cottages in West’s Lane.
Such was the demand for pensioner accommodation, these two cottages soon grew into 71 units.
As the village grew the society was formed in 1977 to manage its growth and the demand for other aged care services.
The Murroona Name
Our name was adopted to honour the original settlement of the land where the complex now stands, the name “Murroona” having belonged to the original farm established by the first settlers on this site, the Hall-Scott family.
Murroona Gardens Care Services
Today comprises the Nursing Home and the Hostel together with a range of ancillary services dedicated to meeting the needs of our residents.
Our Nursing Home was opened in 1982 with 16 beds and later expanded to 36 beds in 1984 with a further 5 bed wings being added to the Nursing Home in 2004 to create a special care needs area capable of housing wandering dementia residents in a safe and secure environment. This was expanded to nine beds in 2012.
Our Day Therapy Centre was opened in 1985 with funding from the federal Government providing services not only to Murroona Gardens residents but also being available to community-based clients.
In 1989 the society opened the hostel complex now providing 28 licensed beds.
In 2003 the first unit was built on land fronting onto Argyle Park Road. A further 8 x 2 Bedroom Units were constructed in 2011.
Construction of an additional 16 rooms to the nursing home was completed in 2011 as part of a $2,800,000 expansion project partly funded by a ZRIL Loan of $800,000 from the Federal Government. This consists of an additional four secure dementia rooms and twelve extra services rooms.
December 2018 was the official opening of our very modern 32 bed wings – Orchid and Frangipani. These rooms offer a “resort style” living with each resident occupying a single room with their own en-suite. The building cost $9m and was fully funded by Murroona Gardens and is at stage two of a three stage upgrade.