Three service medals awarded to Bathurst-born Irene Stoddart (1880–1957) recognise the contribution she made as a nurse during WWI. Nurse Stoddart may have been especially proud of the 1914-15 Star, which recognises her service prior to 31 December 1915. A small lapel pin with the motto ‘digna sequi’ gives a clue to her role during […]
Between the covers of this album are nineteen drawings completed between March and September 1917on HMHS Takada and at the Victoria War Hospital (VWH), Bombay (Mumbai) during the First World War (WWI). The Victoria War Hospital was established in the Taj Mahal Hotel and staffed by Australian nurses including Violet Hazel Lowrey (1889–1964) of Stroud. […]
Exposed organs, popping eyeballs, and the lumpy, snaking texture of a brain might not be a sight you’d like to start the day with. However, for those in the medical profession, understanding what goes on under the skin is often essential to providing proper health care. Historically, doctors often used cadavers to provide insights into […]
Dressed in well-pressed uniforms, a group of nurses formed a guard of honour outside the new Maitland Hospital outpatients wing on 7 November 1942. Proud to be present at such an historic event, the Governor of NSW, Lord Wakehurst and Lady Wakehurst began by inspecting the guard, then unveiled a plaque to commemorate the hospital’s […]
Morriset Hospital was designed to feel more like a hospital and less like a jail for its patients and staff. With its lovely bushland setting and manicured gardens bounded by an expansive lake, most patients were free to roam the grounds in their leisure time, communing with nature. And despite the lack of guarded fences, […]
If you had visited Morisset Psychiatric Hospital in the 1930s you may have met Jean Pursehouse wearing this standard-issue nurse’s uniform—a long-sleeved, blue-denim dress, with white buttons and collar. On the long shift from sunrise to sunset, nurses like Jean rolled up the stiff sleeves of these, heavily starched, hardwearing uniforms to get on with […]
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