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Our Collection

WHAT WE COLLECT

We aim to collect objects, books, photographs and archives that document the development of health-care practices in Tasmania. We want to illustrate the experiences of being a health-care professional or patient.

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THE KEY THEMES OF OUR COLLECTIONS

19th century health-care –

individual practitioners, early institutions, domestic and maritime, public health, pharmacy, dentistry, mental health.

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20th century health-care – practitioners, institutions, development of university degree, public health, Menzies Institute, pharmacy, dentistry, mental health

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We have a special interest in Tasmanian initiatives and inventions, such as infant sleep apnoea monitors, humidicribs and others.

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EXPLORE THE HIGHLIGHTS THROUGH OUR DISPLAYS

Miasmas, Humours and Germ Theory

The objects in this display explore how ideas about illness, wellness and the human body and mind fundamentally changed in the 19th century.

‘Cured by Lightning!’ Electricity and the human body and mind

Almost as soon as European scientists could make a battery, they were experimenting with the effects of electricity on animals and people.

‘Ladies Guides’: women’s medical advice from the 19th and 20th centuries

In most households, the person who recognises an illness, calls the doctor and cares for the patient is still probably a woman.

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Our collection shows how time changed  what Tasmanian women were ‘supposed’ to know.

Dr Thomson’s Cabinet of Curiosities

A selection from our collection for the incurably curious: from a gold-plated eyelid retractor to a whale bone douching syringe from colonial Hobart Town.

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