Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp WWII – Northwest Borneo
Dr Colin Chilvers is a Tasmanian anaesthetist, and was co-convenor for the 2019 ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Kuala Lumpur. After the meeting, he took a well earned break and travelled to Sandakan in Northwest Borneo, where he visited the site of the former...
Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine on the Thai-Burma Railway
When Singapore fell in February 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army suddenly found itself in control of some 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POW), most of whom were British, Australian or Dutch. Approximately 22,000 POWs were Australian soldiers and among them were 106...
The great women of anaesthesia: Emily Hancock Siedeberg McKinnon
This post is one in a series uncovering the stories of early women anaesthetists from Australia and New Zealand. In a very polite letter to the Chancellor of the University of Otago, dated 10 March, 1891, 18 year old Emily Siedeberg expressed her desire to study...
Evipan: The dark side of anaesthesia
Dr Clara Cotaru is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists currently living and working in Belgium. Clara’s interest in the history of anaesthesia began with an investigation of the history of advertising anaesthetic agents, which she...