Oscar Parry
Kyneton Museum is hosting an exhibition about the rich history of nursing and medicine in the Macedon Ranges.
A collaboration between Kyneton Museum and the Historical Societies of the Macedon Ranges, the exhibition titled ‘Nurses, Medicine and Caring in the Macedon Ranges’ presents local stories, objects from the museum’s social history collections, uniforms, and a large collection of memorabilia from the old Kyneton Hospital.
The exhibition focuses on themes including nurse training, nurses at war, uniforms, local medical identities, bush nursing and shire hospitals, maternal and child health services, midwifery and pharmacy in the Macedon Ranges.
The team behind the exhbition, Kyneton Historical Society secretary Larina Strauch, acting museum supervisor Meredith Blake, and former Kyneton Hospital nurse and Kyneton Museum officer Pat Sanders, recounted some of the historic nursing tales from the Macedon Ranges.
“On September 8, 1950, a very tiny baby girl (11⁄2lb or 680 gm), Frances Willmott, was born prematurely to parents Mr and Mrs John Willmott at the Kyneton District Hospital. These were the days before humidicribs, and the story hit the front pages of the national news,” they said.
“Nurses still remember this wonderful story and celebrate the story of baby Frances at the Kyneton Hospital – when no record of such a small child surviving existed in Victoria until then.”
The team said that the exhibition pays tribute to notable Macedon Ranges nurses, with many serving in wars.
One of these was Kyneton nurse Mary Rawson, who served as a nurse during the Boer War in South Africa and again in World War 1.
Some of the historic memorabilia showcased at the exhibition will include wicker baby scales used to weigh thousands of infants at hospitals and centres across Kyneton, Romsey and Lancefield; a kit bag used by volunteer Nurse Lillian Dickinson in World War 2; and a series of uniforms that demonstrate changes in nursing attire through the decades.
“They all have a special connection to the region and demonstrate the changes in nursing care throughout the decades and the importance of evolving techniques for better health for the community,” the team said.
The exhibition will run until February next year and is open from 11am–4pm each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Kyneton Museum.
