Nursing Kuti

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Several of our ‘less local’ friends who have supported this project have asked about progress. Here are a few photos and some text that hopefully gives a reasonable view of the development and the final result. We are enormously grateful to all of you who have been involved at various levels. The result is very much what was hoped for by the resident community and we hope you agree that the outcome has been worth the effort. Anumodana – Sadhu.

Here are a few timeline points to give you an overview.

Drawings were completed in May 2025
Building consent was issued in June
Building work commenced in July
Completed in December
There were variations with the final cost just over $500k

The building company we employed was (Nathan) Dawes Construction. We were very lucky to have our good friend and architect Hugh Tennant helping out with various phases of the work and his long-term associate Devo Staples providing most of the on-site supervision. The resident community didn’t take any photos so thanks to Devo and Nathan for sharing their records.

As it Was

North Side

South Side

Library Entrance

On with the New

Sizing the Garage

Build Garage Here.

Garage Arises

Quickly Clad

Becoming New

Looking Out

History

Some of you may be old enough to remember the original library building, the sawn off wing of an old house, arriving on the back of a Briton’s truck down from their Hayward’s Hill depot. The basement and foundations had been prepared and the truck drove into the basement and lowered the building onto it’s poles. What a delicate and well managed operation that was. The carport was then added with a new roof covering both. Looking at the first photo above you can see the original weatherboards and the paneled opening. The library functioned well for several decades and much of its smooth operation was due to the ministrations of Bobby Johns who set up the Dewey filing system and kept everything in good order.

It is not clear just when, maybe 2015, it was decided that with increased digital use our books, and the library, were not being so widely utilised. The selection was reviewed and now resides in the kitchen dining area. The library was now empty, most often used for dorm accommodation during retreats and such. You can read the news update archive item for 2019, Apr 17 where the age of the nursing kuti concept has clearly been ‘on the books’ for some time.

Concept

We have an aging population and care of extremely ill or elderly monks is an ongoing discussion within our global community. The death of our long-term lay resident, Bruce, really brought the idea into focus… death is real, and the monastery is in no way exempt. To be able to care for our own is important on so many levels. And so the project was launched and, once the ball got rolling, the goal was inevitable!

Below are photos recently taken that hopefully give you an idea of ‘the new’ and also give you a comparison with the ‘before’. We are still working on furnishings – curtains being worked on in the Attendant Kuti photo – and all the details like soap racks and beds, etc. are coming together. The new garage, replacing the old carport, is wonderful. A great result involving many people and so much good heart. Anumodana to you all.