The CALHN Health Museum would like to acknowledge the work and dedication of volunteers. Volunteers play a fundamental role in our community. Be is fundraising, emotional support, or helping out a sports team. Throughout National Volunteers Week they are celebrated for their contributions to the community. National Volunteers Week is celebrated nationally acknowledging the work […]
Here at the CALHN Health Museum we love receiving new donations. My recent favourite acquisition is a fake eyeball. Selecting an item to accession can depend on a great deal of things, ranging from time availability, size or type, and sometimes – what takes your fancy first. My pick this time was a small tin. […]
Anzac Day is a time of remembrance of those service men and women who fought for their country. At a time when they were needed many every day Australians answered the call to enlist and left their families to fight. Many nurses and doctors who worked across CALHN institutions answered the call too. Giving up […]
We all hate getting them in the post box, and they almost always end up going straight into the rubbish bin (if they’re not left hanging on the fridge for months, saved for later use – only to expire before you ever get around to using them). Despite this, brochures remain an important medium for […]
“It’s Faulding’s, it’s pure” There are thousands of pharmaceutical brands on the market today. One company began right here in Adelaide. Faulding’s & Co began in 1845 and continues 181 years later. Many Faulding’s & Co products can be found in the CALHN Health Museum collection. Faulding’s have played an integral part in medical history […]
Here at the CALHN Health Museum we always look forward to receiving new donations from members of the community. But it is even more special when the donated item is part of global medical history. The museum catalogue has a range of paraphernalia relating to the creation, development and use of penicillin. This new acquisition […]
You never know what surprises await inside donated items about to be added into a collection. One of these being a letter found inside a well-used copy of Handbook for Mental Nurses by Medico-Psychological Association. This seventh edition, released between 1923 and 1935, served as a “bible” for nurses training in mental health institutions, including […]
Merry Christmas from CALHN Health Museum – 2025 After a year full of uncertainty we look forward to celebrating the festive season. Although our decorations have been scaled back there is still so much to celebrate. This year’s festivities began with decorating the Museum. Although we did not enter the annual CALHN Christmas Decorating Competition, […]
As the year draws to an end, the volunteers and staff at the CALHN Health Museum conclude yet another productive and busy chapter. In 2025, the museum welcomed 5 new volunteers: Oliver, Karen, Yasamin, Edith and Billy. And welcomed back two, Chris and Delia. The year began on a slightly sombre note with the passing […]
Nurses’ badges have changed dramatically over the years—evolving from ornate gold-and-enamel pins to the simple plastic identification cards used today. It was common place to see nurses in hospitals wearing brass and enamel badges, not something you see much in modern hospitals today. Badges were used to fasten stiffly starched detachable collars to their uniforms, […]
Today we celebrate Allied Health and Scientific Professions Day: an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the more than 2800 Allied Health and Scientific professionals working across the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN). Representing over 24 disciplines, these professionals play a vital role in working to improve the lives of South Australians. Allied Health and […]
Starting work as a probationer or trainee nurse was never easy. For generations of probationers at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the first day meant stepping into a world of strict rules, heavy workloads, and unfamiliar routines. The CALHN Health Museum’s oral history collection captures these moments, with nurses recalling their first impressions, early mistakes, and […]
In our collection is a small, little book with a very long title: The Gastric Regions and Victualling Department (or the Roast Beef of Old England). It was published in 1860, making it 165 years old, and is attributed simply to ‘an Old Militia Surgeon”. Although the author remains anonymous, what he left behind is […]
For much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, nursing was not just a job, it could be a dangerous calling. Hospitals, far from being the clean, clinical environments we know today, were often a hotbed for diseases. Nurses daily treated patients with diseases such tuberculosis, polio, typhus, smallpox, diphtheria and influenza, not to mention […]
While hospital beds are just part of the hospital furniture, their design, availability and even their cleanliness, have been concerns that directly affected patient care since the Royal Adelaide Hospital opened in 1842. The Black Bed Era The first hospital beds used at the Adelaide Hospital were known colloquially as ‘Black Beds’. These were low […]