South Australian Medical Heritage Society Inc

Who we are—About the South Australian Medical Heritage Society

• How it started
• The exhibits
• Office bearers, present and past
• Reports of Annual General Meetings
  

How it started—Photograph Collection to Virtual Museum

The Web-site shows a collection of photographs and details dealing with items of mainly South Australian Medical Heritage. In 1984 this Society was started with the aim of creating a real-life actual museum but this did not eventuate.

In 2003 two retired medical practitioners. Bernard Vaughan, a radiologist, and Tony Slavotinek, a surgeon, started to photograph and describe items of medical heritage scattered throughout South Australia. They had first met in 1970 when writing a paper together, with the late Professor Richard Jepson, on lymphatic damage during vascular surgery .

Today one is the President of the South Australian Medical Heritage Society, and the other has time and access to an elegant “photo-shop” program. Most of the photographs and back-ground information has been provided by the former whilst the latter edited the photographs and provided the scientific back-ground.

Quite recently they were joined by another surgeon, Michael Patkin, well known for applying ergonomics to surgery. He is computer literate and has his own Web-site. He is instrumental in posting the gathered information to this web-site.

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The current aim of the SAMHS is to list and document numerous items of medical heritage relevant to South Australia, and to show them in a Virtual Museum. These are currently sited at various South Australian Hospital, museums and in the hands of private collectors. Thus the objects illustrating the development of X-rays in SA are currently dispersed in collections held at the Flinders Medical Centre, The Faulding's Library Glenside, the Women's and Children's Hospital and at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

A comprehensive catalogue provides such relevant information and facilitates collocation of such items (as temporary loans) for educational purposes and to interested persons.

The Society has 60 members and is administered by a management group of seven who represent several Adelaide Teaching Hospitals and private collectors. The group also arranges 4-6 general yearly meetings where invited persons deliver presentations of themes relevant to SA medical heritage.

So far we have been able to list and document over 500 such items grouped first in six Galleries and at the next level into almost 80 folders. They are presented as photographs and include a brief background on information relevant to each item or theme.

For a map of this web site, click here.

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Office bearers, present and past

• President                   Dr C.R.T. (Chris) Hughes
• Secretary                   Dr Millicent Marion
• Treasurer                  Mr. David Buob
  
  
• Committee members    Unchanged

Past President:    Dr. Tony Slavotinek
                            slavotinek (at) ozemail. com.au 
                      

Past Secretary:   Colin Suchting

Past Treasurer:

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