Augustinus “Alan” Krikke points to his right wrist and tells how its Save the Repat tattoo was inked onto his skin during a cold night camped on the steps of Parliament House in 2015.

Lifting his sleeve further, Krikke reveals more letters that help tell the story as to why he fought so hard to save this southern Adelaide hospital site from demolition, the letters V, F, V, F – Veteran Forever Veteran Forever.

Krikke was only 19 years old when he was thrust into the Vietnam War as a medical assistant in the 1^st Australian Field Hospital, returning to Australia to deal with flashbacks and panic attacks that eventually led him to the Repat for help.

When he heard former Health Minister Jack Snelling was planning to shut down the hospital that opened in 1942 to support veterans from the Second World War and then Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, he initially was not sure what to do.

“Then one of the veterans, ‘Jock’, started putting a banner on the fence out on Daws Road and he was walking around with placards and I thought the poor bastard, he is doing that all by himself,” Krikke said.

He spoke to other veterans and soon there were protesters marching regularly from Victoria Square to Parliament House. But one day, on April 4, Krikke decided the battle needed to be stepped up.

“I know I probably stick my nose in where it’s not wanted but when it comes to veterans, I’m an ex-medic, I can’t stop looking after veterans,” he says.

“Parliaments means it’s the people’s house … I couldn’t find a law against us staying there, so by the 5th I called a mate and I said ‘do you want to go for an adventure’ and I said ‘pack a sleeping bag and get some rations together’.

“On Tuesday morning on April 6 we all rocked up there, about 50 of us, people rolled out their sleeping bags and put some tables out …. it was on.”

In the end, the battle was won with peaceful protest backed by sheer grit and dogged determination. When the new Marshall government won the 2018 state election, a contract to build housing on the land was scrapped.

Fast forward almost eight years, and the site that Krikke’s band of protestors helped save is now gradually being transformed into a modernised health precinct.

Krikke stands in the new town square called Bill’s Place for William Hurtle Schmitt, a soldier, prisoner of war and fearless advocate for his fellow veterans, who died in 2015.

Nearby is the new Tim Hughes Stadium for brain and spine patients, the building with large red poppy sculptures adorning its side named after an Aboriginal veteran awarded the Military Medal for heroism.

Further along is the School’s Patriotic Fund Hall – built for veterans mainly from funds raised by school children selling badges and sweets, now sporting fresh paint and connected to the Repat Veteran Wellbeing Centre.

A canopy roof joining the two buildings is made from glass etched with poppies so that on a sunny day a field of poppy shadows appears on the path below.

This is the first time Krikke has seen the results of what he calls a team effort that overturned the State Government’s planned closure, so this site could remain dedicated to the health of veterans and southern Adelaide residents.

“It’s new, but the old fits into it really well,” he says.

“It’s becoming a welcoming space, it’s going to take time but I’m optimistic and I think it’s probably going to be one of the best facilities the southern people can have in the future.”

Save the Repat sleepout protesters in 2015. Photo: Save the Repat group

More building work is underway on the 13ha site. Hammond Care is building a new dementia accommodation village on Daws Road and work is expected to begin on a joint $145 million Nexus and SA Health hospital later this year.

The almost completed Café 105 – a nod to the Repat first being named the 105 Adelaide Military Hospital – is due to open in the next few months.

Veteran liaison officer Darren Renshaw has worked on site for 40 years and has known Krikke for many of them, having first arrived on site aged 16 years to work as an apprentice in the artificial limb and appliance centre.

Today, he shows Krikke around the new gardens and buildings, telling him how schoolchildren will soon begin visiting the town square, the chapel with stained-glass windows honouring veterans, and the museum to learn about the site’s military connection.

“It’s not just a health precinct, it’s a place with a vision to open this up to the community, already they are starting to remove the boundary fences to encourage the local community to use this space,” he says.

“To me it’s a very proud moment to see the hospital be reactivated and in particular how it is honouring individuals and events in our military history…. Lest we forget.”

Alan Krikke and Darren Renshaw at the saved Repat hospital site. Photo: Tony Lewis

Krikke agrees, saying he has no regrets about the long protest and the toll that weeks of sleeping through the winter cold on the Parliament House steps took on his health, his doctor eventually persuading him to return home to heal.

Rosters of supporters had been there every step of the way, delivering home-cooked meals, joining daily protests and Krikke’s wife regularly arriving with his medication.

By the time Krikke returned home to a warm bed, the intense media attention and a petition signed by 120,000 South Australians had set an agenda for the incoming Liberal Government in 2018 to scrap the $200 million development contract.

“I have no regrets as far as what we did and all the stress, what we did was the right thing to do at the time,” Krikke says.

“At the end of the day it was the people that spoke out against a government that was not listening to what they had to say.”