Beginning life as a community health centre, it provided hospice care on a day and live-in basis, free of charge. In those days, healing was facilitated by organic whole foods, herbs, nutritional supplements, medicine, exercise, treatment and the power of community, laughter, honesty, faith and participation.
Founded in 1962, by Hope and Lionel Taylor, the clinic initially resided on a 10-acre farm on Hargreaves Road. A supportive local farmer, Ted Brockhurst, then generously made available an adjacent corner block of land, for the clinic to expand its services.
Not unexpectedly, the second generation – Hope and Lionel’s four children, Julia, Lois, Rosemary and Cedric – all studied Health modalities, as did many of their partners. By 1967, two girls were qualified chiropractors and the third, a nurse. These modalities were then formally added to the clinic services, when all three girls joined the practice. After studying medicine, Cedric also joined the clinic, along with Lois' husband, Dr Weston Allen.
Subsequently, the third generation studied a variety of modalities – physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, remedial massage therapy, dietetics and naturopathy. Both Hope and Lionel remained active in the clinic until 1980, either caring for guests, hosting day patients or helping to run the Total Health programs, for local participants.
Community health roots
It’s since been acknowledged that this roll out was one of the catalysts for what became a lifestyle revolution, for many Australians. The best known of these campaigns was “Life Be in It”, which inspired people to switch off the TV and start walking on a daily basis. As a result, public awareness grew around the positive health effects of lifestyle change.
By the mid-1980s, the clinic had become the largest new patient practice of physical medicine in Australia. Notwithstanding its growth, and evolution, its founding principles still remained the key focus of the practice. By that stage, Dr Cedric Taylor and Julia Tyack (formerly Taylor) were the principal practitioners, along with Dr Weston Allen.
For nearly thirty years, the family vision had been to build an integrated physical therapies team, where patients could consult practitioners of medicine, physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy and remedial massage therapy. In September 1997, that vision was realised when the existing centre was built.
As at 2017, over twelve hundred patients visit the facility each week and can access an extensive range of health care options, including: general practice, chiropractic, physiotherapy, osteopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy, psychology, nursing care, dietetics, podiatry, exercise physiology and remedial massage.
