After being interested in Victorian medicine for a long time, but knowing needed to refine any portrayal I wanted to do, to a much smaller defined time than the whole 63 years that that encompasses, I ahve finally made a decision on what to do!

One of my favourite buildings in my home town of Brisbane, is the Old Queensland Museum. https://www.oldmuseum.org/

I am old enough to have very fond memories running around the display cases as a child, admiring the specimens, and have also been privileged to see around the building in recent years when its been used for community groups and music rehearsals and shows.

The building was opened in 1891 for the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association, and it situated next to the Royal National Agriculture showgrounds. It has been many things over the years but was the state museum for the longest and is remembered as that in its name now.

So I began looking at what was happening in medicine in Australia around 1890, and found it was amazing!

In 1890, Constance Stone become the first woman to register with the Medical Board of Victoria. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stone-emma-constance-8676

Constance Stone became the first registered female doctor in Australia

Also in my home state of Queensland, Lilian Cooper became the first woman doctor registered in the state in 1891. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-lilian-violet-5770

Plus, looking at some of the costuming from that era of the 1890’s seemed a little more achievable for someone with my limited sewing ability (prefer to repair a perineal hernia any day!) Though will be asking for a lot of help and paying someone for the more complex components to get them right.

So keep watching as I try to post the bits of pieces of my late Victorian woman doctor in Australia!

It was also a time when public health was still being developed and germ theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_of_disease not always agreed with by the medical fraternity (and being a woman could lead to some difficult times)

So will have plenty to read and then post about that!!!!

Life before we knew about germs …