Decades-old vision realised as work starts on Moorundi medical centre
Construction of a multi-million-dollar, Aboriginal-owned clinic has begun at the former Lower Murray Nungas Club in Murray Bridge.
A dream more than 20 years in the making is finally being realised at the former Lower Murray Nungas Club in Murray Bridge.
On Monday, construction work began on a multi-million-dollar medical centre which will be owned and operated by the Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service.
The ceremonial turning of the first sod was the culmination of more than two decades of hopes and dreams by local Aboriginal people.
It was in 2002 that dozens of community leaders from all over Ngarrindjeri country met in Murray Bridge to lay out their vision for a community-controlled health service.
A Ngarrindjeri-controlled service was briefly established under SA Health in the 2000s, and Moorundi’s creation in 2016 took the idea one step further.
What began as partnership between Aboriginal health workers and non-Indigenous GPs has since grown into an organisation which employs more than 40 of its own staff at clinics in Murray Bridge, Victor Harbor and Raukkan.
But the plan was always for a central hub at the former Nungas Club on Adelaide Road: a place where people could come together to share culture and community, not just get treatment for their health problems.
The federal government committed $9 million to the project in December 2022, which allowed detailed plans to be drawn up.
On Monday, the first shovels of dirt were turned over at the site, paving the way for the clinic’s long-awaited construction.
For Moorundi CEO Steve Sumner – a facilitator of that meeting back in 2002, and a driver of the project ever since – it was a day of high emotion.
“It’s not just bricks and mortar,” he said.
“It’s never been that.”
He read out the names of the 65 people present at the meeting that had set Moorundi on a path to this point, thanking them for their vision.
Nineteen of them had not lived to see it realised.
He urged the next generation of Ngarrindjeri leaders, and Moorundi’s staff, to take up the torch and continue the work of caring for the community.
“The community people on that (original) committee stuck together and stayed strong because they realised that the development of our community’s health service and this build, there was going to be nothing stronger to lead the combat against bad health for our mob,” he said.
“You have the responsibility to make this work.”
Moorundi chair Tahlia Lloyd also acknowledged the work put in by so many who had fought for Aboriginal health in the community over the decades.
“We want this building to be representative of that fight,” she said.
When completed, the new centre – like other Moorundi clinics – will offer not just health care, but also career pathways for young Indigenous people.
Making those pathways visible would inspire kids to achieve their potential, Mr Sumner suggested: “We want to be part of the economy, not part of the welfare system.”
In time, he hoped a second building could be built alongside the new clinic: a community centre with a cafe, a bigger Nungas Gym and spaces dedicated to elders, parents and young people.
That would fit with Moorundi’s goals: not just to provide health care, but to bring the community together.
But that will come later, when funding can be found.
For now, there’s work to do.
Correction: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect dollar value for the medical centre. Clarification: The concept images included with this story have been updated since its publication.
