The Health Museum’s staff recently refreshed their skills in the preventative conservation of collection objects in the beautiful setting of the Mortlock Library, Adelaide. Part of the day included hands on practice making mounts to display museum photographs, books, and artwork. Japanese tissue paper was used to make corners for artwork and photographs to keep […]
Visit to the Reactivated Repat This week our museum workers visited the Repat Health Precinct, Daw Park. Established in 1942 as a military hospital, it has undergone several rebirths over its 80-year history and is fondly remembered as the Repatriation General Hospital, or the ‘Repat’, for returned war veterans and their families. Most recently the […]
Do you have a skeleton in the closet? We do! Meet our fine friend George. George is a little bit shy, so let us introduce him. In days gone by, nursing education was conducted in the hospital rather than a tertiary institution. The former Royal Adelaide Hospital trained nurses in theory and practice for over […]
As we prepare to say a final farewell to our monarch, we share with you some of our memories of her early visits to South Australia. The Adelaide Hospital was granted its “Royal” prefix in 1939 by His Majesty the King, George VI. In 1954 his daughter and successor, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II paid […]
As the sun set on the official final day of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, an eerie silence filled the corridors of a once bustling metropolitan hospital. From the cradle to the grave, with much in between, the hospital played a pivotal role in the lives of many patients, workers, and visitors, from its opening […]
In a non-descript building lies a wasting corpse, not that of a human, but that of a decommissioned mortuary. Thousands of cars drive past it on their daily commute along Hampstead Road, unaware of its existence behind a tall fence. The mortuary provided services for the former Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital, now the Hampstead Rehabilitation […]
Today we honour the memory of sixteen brave nurses. One of the last ships to evacuate Singapore, after it fell to the Japanese in February 1942, was the SS Vyner Brooke. On board were civilians (mainly women and children), the crew, and sixty-five Australian nurses. Sixteen of these nurses trained, worked, or were born in […]
Among the archives of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is a black and white photograph of the sewing room, circa 1960. Standing are Dr Carman and Matron Tanner. Seated and operating an industrial sewing machine is a hospital worker. Is this you or are you able to identify this person? If yes, we would be pleased […]