Pins & Needles
THE BLOG OF THE GEOFFREY KAYE MUSEUM OF ANAESTHETIC HISTORY
Welcome
Welcome to Pins and Needles, the brand new blog of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History. We’re really excited to have you join us. The Geoffrey Kaye Museum has been around since about 1935.
Plastic Fantastic: Preserving the Past in Anaesthetic History
From September to November 2024, Intern Elizabeth Anderson-Wisely from Melbourne University conducted work on the plastic and rubber oropharyngeal airways of the museum. Undertaking research into their condition and potential conservation efforts that may aid in the long-term preservation of the collection.
2024 Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine History and Heritage Research Grant – accepting applications!
Do you have an idea for an anaesthesia or pain medicine history research project? The Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine History and Heritage Research Grant is an initiative of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History at the Australian and New Zealand College of...
A Foray into the Archives of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum
Zana Bell is Geoffrey Kaye Museum's 2023 History and Heritage Grant winner. Zana has had six novels published internationally and has a particular interest in women's history. Zana travelled from New Zealand to Melbourne in early March 2024 to conduct research at the...
Tell Matilda all about it…
In March 2020 none of us could have accurately foreseen what would unfold over the next few years. Looking back, the closest thing we could identify was the post-World War I influenza pandemic. And, that was over a century earlier. The 1918-19 influenza pandemic saw...
Of International Significance
In December 2022, we commissioned Dr Megan Cardamone from Circa Museum Services to undertake a whole of collection significance assessment. For quite a while we’ve thought the collection was one of international and national significance, and we wanted an independent...
Portrait of Dr Rodney Mitchell
At the end of each president’s term, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) commissions a portrait. There is now quite the collection of painted portraits dating back to 1992, when the college formally came into being. In 2016, ANZCA Council...
The life of Dr Robin William Smallwood
Dr Robin Smallwood was Dean, Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1986-87). In this blog post, his wife Rosalind Smallwood, and colleagues, Dr Geoff Gutteridge and Professor Barry Baker AM, remember his great contributions to the...
A brief history of obstetric anaesthesia in Australia
For History Month 2021, we asked Prof Alicia Dennis to talk to us about the history of obstetric anaesthesia in Australia. Prof Dennis had already prepared a presentation for the Launceston Historical Society’s Pugh Day Lecture. Restrictions in place, due to Covid-19,...
“Spiritus Anaesthesiae”, The Reach of Anaesthesia
Dr David Fenwick is a retired anaesthetist from South Australia. In 2010, Dr Fenwick gifted the college a bronze statuette, representing Spiritus Anaesthesiae. In this blog post, Dr Fenwick describes his inspiration, as well as the benefits of anaesthesia and...
Dancing on the Fault Line – a gift to ANZCA
The ANZCA corporate collection is, in many ways, an unlikely collection of objects. They have been gifted to the college for a number of reasons, by a range of people, and speak strongly about the relationship between the college and the donor. Among the collection...
Upcoming exhibition: Djeembana Whakaora
On 26 April 2021, we met with curators, Kat Clarke and Paris Norton, to discuss the museum’s upcoming exhibition Djeembana Whakaora: First Nations medicine, health and healing. We got to chat about their philosophies for developing the exhibition, as well as some...
They Didn’t Feel a Thing: History of Medicine Talk Series
During April 2021, we took part in the Australian Heritage Festival, organised by the National Trust of Australia. As part of the festival we offered a range of public talks on interesting topics. First up was Rebecca Lush. Rebecca is the curator at the Integrated...
2021 History of Medicine Talk Series
During April, as part of the Australian Heritage Festival, we're running a small series of online talks. Come join us for some interesting discussions. They Didn’t Feel a Thing: Chloroform and Serial Killers Join us as we talk to Rebecca Lush, the curator of the...
Anaesthesia training in Papua New Guinea
Associate Professor Terry Loughnan is an ANZCA fellow with a particular interest in the history of anaesthesia training in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He is also the 2019 recipient of the ANZCA History and Heritage Grant. He had planned to conduct a series of oral history...
Impacts of the pandemic on anaesthetic trainees
Dr Richard Seglenieks is an Anaesthetic Registrar at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne. Here, he provides some additional reflections following on from a previous post in June 2020. I have found living and working through the COVID-19 pandemic stressful, and I know many...
Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy – The Legacy of J Marion Sims
Anarcha was 17 years old and went into labour with her first child. She struggled for three days before medical help was sought. When help arrived, it was a local doctor with no particular interest in reproductive health. In his own words, “[i]f there was anything I...
COVID-19 as an Anaesthetic Trainee
Dr Richard Seglenieks is an Anaesthetic Registrar at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne. Here, he records his reflections on the 'strange times' we're living and working in during 2020. We are living in strange times. It feels entirely inadequate, yet also...
History is happening now – collecting Covid-19
It’s easy to think of history as some inaccessible, distant past with little relationship to the here and now. It’s sometimes hard to reconcile the notion of ‘history’ with the world in its current state. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted social behaviours, forced a...