On Display

Take a sneak peak at what the CALHN Health Museum has been up to recently.

The past few months have been busy at the CALHN Health Museum, with staff and volunteers actively planning and installing multiple exhibitions across the state. As custodians of over 30,000 artifacts, the museum has a wealth of exhibition topics to choose from. However, the challenge lies in selecting and narrowing down the most exciting and engaging items to showcase.

With History Month concluding at the end of May, and another successful year of the museum’s involvement in hosting and participating in events, June saw the CALHN Health Museum refresh its two display spaces at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. These new exhibits highlight the museum’s extensive collections, focusing on the fields of dentistry and surgery.

Shortly after, the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre’s Psychotherapy Department approached the museum to curate a special exhibition commemorating its long history at the Hampstead site, before its upcoming relocation to the departments new home at Kangkanthi (pronounced ‘gun-gun-dee’).

In August, the museum also updated its exhibition at the Parliamentary Library, continuing its long-standing collaboration with the institution. This latest display celebrates the innovative legacy of Adelaide-born brothers Donald and Edward ‘Ted’ Both, founders of Both Equipment Limited. Ted, often hailed as the “Edison of Australia,” was the lead inventor, known for creations like the Iron Lung (which is on display at the museum!), a transmitter ingeniously housed in a coconut, and an Olympic scoreboard. Meanwhile, Don handled the design work and managed the business operations.

The exhibit received a special visit from Clive Pay, who worked as an apprentice at Both Equipment Limited in the 1950s. Clive has extensively researched and written about the company, providing valuable insights into its history.

The final installation during this busy period was a ‘collection highlights’ display, currently featured in the walkway between Wards 1 and 2 at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre. This exhibit presents a hanging display of selected artefacts from the museum’s Sir Verco collection.

Stay tuned to discover what exciting exhibitions the museum has in store for the future!

Written by Anna Grigoriev, CALHN Health Museum