Australian and New Zealand History of Medicine Society

Australian and New Zealand History of Medicine Society The Australian and New Zealand History of Medicine Society is a learned society dedicated to the study of medical history in Australasia. It brings together historians, clinicians, librarians, archivists, and curators to examine the histories of James Cook, William Bligh, Charles Darwin, Joseph Banks and other figures whose voyages influenced medical practice, as well as the roles of institutions such as Royal Adelaide Hospital, Auckland Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Wellington Hospital in shaping public health. The society engages with archival collections from repositories like the State Library of New South Wales, the Alexander Turnbull Library, and the National Library of Australia to promote research on topics ranging from Indigenous health encounters to colonial sanitary reform.

History

The society was founded in 1967 by historians and physicians influenced by work on figures such as Florence Nightingale, Edward Jenner, Ignaz Semmelweis, Louis Pasteur, and Robert Koch, together with regional scholars interested in the legacies of Gregory Blaxland, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof and local practitioners. Early meetings featured papers on colonial medicine in the period of the First Fleet, convict health aboard ships like the HMS Sirius, and the impact of the Otago Gold Rush and the Victorian gold rushes on urban public health. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the society fostered research into Indigenous interactions with missionaries like Samuel Marsden and explorers such as Thomas Mitchell and John Oxley, and into institutional histories of hospitals established under legislation like various colonial hospital acts. In subsequent decades the society expanded networks with international bodies such as the International Society for the History of Medicine, the Wellcome Trust, and the Royal Society of New Zealand while promoting studies of epidemics including the 1918 influenza pandemic, smallpox outbreaks, and the responses to tuberculosis in Australasia.

Objectives and Activities

The society’s objectives include promoting scholarship on figures and events such as Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Arthur Phillip, William Dampier, Sir Joseph Banks, and local public-health reformers; supporting preservation of manuscripts and artifacts held by institutions like the Australian War Memorial, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and university archives; and fostering dialogue among members from hospitals, universities, and museums. Activities encompass lectures on topics ranging from the work of Thomas R. Malthus in population debates to studies of nursing pioneers influenced by Margaret Sanger and Isabel Hampton Robb, workshops on archival methods referencing collections related to John Hunter and Percival Lowell, and collaborative exhibitions with museums featuring instruments associated with Harvey Cushing and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.

Membership and Governance

Membership draws historians, clinicians, curators, archivists, and students with interests in subjects such as Herbert Basedow, Truby King, Duncan MacGregor, Sir Frederick Truby King, and other regional medical figures. Governance typically comprises an elected executive committee including positions analogous to president, secretary, and treasurer, with terms and election procedures influenced by practices in bodies like the British Society for the History of Medicine and the American Association for the History of Medicine. Institutional representatives from universities such as University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Auckland, University of Otago, and specialised units like the Fisher Library and the Turnbull Library serve on committees that coordinate grants, archival outreach, and ethical guidelines for work involving Indigenous communities, often consulting protocols similar to those used by the Waitangi Tribunal and regional heritage agencies.

Conferences and Publications

The society organises annual and biennial conferences featuring panels on colonial biomedical encounters, surgical innovation, and public-health campaigns, attracting keynote speakers engaged with research on Edward Jenner, Joseph Lister, Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Frank Macfarlane Burnet. Conferences have been hosted at venues linked to institutions such as Monash University, Griffith University, University of Otago, and the University of Queensland, and often include joint symposia with organisations like the Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Publications include conference proceedings, thematic monographs, and a newsletter or journal that has featured articles on subjects such as vaccination debates, quarantine administered at ports like Port Jackson and Port Phillip, and biographies of colonial surgeons who served on voyages of HMS Endeavour and other exploration vessels. Many papers draw on primary sources from archives such as the National Archives of Australia and the Archives New Zealand.

Awards and Recognition

The society recognises outstanding scholarship with prizes and lecture fellowships that have honoured research on figures like Percy Everett, John Hunter, John Snow, and regional public-health campaigns, and it sometimes collaborates with foundations including the Wellcome Trust and university research funds to support doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships. Awards have been presented for best articles, best doctoral theses, and lifetime achievement, mirroring prizes given by bodies such as the Royal Society of Medicine and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Recipients often proceed to publish monographs with academic presses associated with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and regional academic publishers, contributing to broader historiography of medicine in Australasia.

Category:Medical history societies Category:Learned societies of Australia Category:Learned societies of New Zealand