Pleasant Creek site

The Pleasant Creek Hospital site has finally been leased. New owner Keenan Quinsee intends to open some of the buildings for Aradale-style ghost tours. More details on the plans in the Wimmera Mail-Times article, and photos of the buildings in the Stawell Times-News article.

Pleasant Creek Centre was the site of the first local hospital in Stawell, which was opened in 1850 (the only hospital in western Victoria between the South Australian border, Ballarat and the Murray River. Local landowners and miners subscribed to its construction. It was reserved in 1861 and again in 1883. Part of the building remains on the site, there were more elaborate alterations in 1881, it featured a Benevolent Ward for elderly miners. The area has a long history of community use, initially as a health service and subsequently as the Pleasant Creek Training Centre, an area where people with intellectual disabilities were accommodated and educated and participated in day programs.

 For many years a school was located on the site as well as accommodation for children, teenagers and latter disabled adults. Following changes to intellectual disabled housing policies, the Human Services Department transferred the clients from the Pleasant Creek Centre into community housing.

Parliamentary legislation removed the final reservation on the land and the 13 hectares was identified as having no further public purpose and had been for public sale since 2008.