A Charitable Contraption

While this metal contraption might look a little scary, it provided life-saving support for hundreds of newborn babies who struggled to take their first breaths. Dr William K. McIntyre (1881-1969), was a gynaecologist and obstetrician who practised in Launceston, Tasmania, on Kanamaluka county. McIntyre grew frustrated with the lack of options when it came to […]

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The Lost Art of Whitework

Parents of newborn babies today know that zipper onesies are very practical, especially those in bold colours and printed patterns that hide the inevitable spills and stains. But spare a thought for previous generations, when it was expected that babies be dressed in multiple fancy garments like those in this layette set, which were traditionally […]

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A Measure of Good Health

Mothers regularly pushed their prams up the ramp of the local courthouse in 1950s Morpeth. But it was not a judge and jury that they were to there to see—it was a baby health nurse. In this unlikely place from 1954, about ten years after the the building had been closed as a court house, […]

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