Reprinted from The Medical Journal of Australia, April 30, 1949, page 569, read at a meeting of the Section of Public Health, Tuberculosis and tropical Medicine, Australasian Medical Congress (British Medical Association) Sixth Session, Perth, August 1948 By C.E. Cook, M.D., D.P.H., D.T.M. and H.,Commissioner of Public Health, Western Australia The importance of the Australian […]
Health and Native Administration
Formerly health administration and native policy were closely integrated. The principle was accepted that the functions of Health and Native Administration were fundamentally identical and the Chief Medical Officer was also the Chief Protector. Changes in the administrative establishment divorcing native administration from the Health Authority have deprived the latter of the opportunity either to […]
Health in Tropical Australia – 1950 [EN 8/3]
The following represents a synopsis of a lengthy report upon health administration and associated problems in Northern Australia. Statements made positively in this synopsis without discussion or qualification can be supported by reference to the more detailed report. The situation confronting the Commonwealth in tropical Australia may be outlined as follows: Three factors which have […]
Tropical Disease and the Australian Native [EN 8/5, 6]
by C.E. Cook, M.D., Ch.M., D.P.H., D.T.M. & H A paper delivered at the Commonwealth Conference of the BMA, Brisbane, May 1950 The region with which this study is concerned includes roughly that portion of Australia lying north of the 19th parallel of South Latitude and embracing the Peninsula and Carpentaria Divisions of Queensland, the […]
Letter to the Minister on Health Problems in Northern Australia [EN 8/14]
Director-General You will recall your direction that I prepare for the Minister, before his visit to the Territory, a submission on the health problems created by the Northern Territory native and make recommendations in respect of these. This submission has now been prepared and copy is attached for the Minister’s information. CE Cook (Note inserted […]
Health Administration and the Northern Territory Native [EN 4/51, 8/16]
Director-General 19th June, 1951 INTRODUCTORY The health problem created by the Northern Territory native can best be understood against the background of his mode of life prior to white settlement and his reaction to contact with European civilisation. In his traditional mode of life, the native moved as one of a small family group over […]
Health and Native Administration – 1952-3
INTRODUCTION: Several factors contribute to the complexity of the problem of providing an adequate health and medical service in Northern Australia: The environment favours the endemicity of the major tropical disease. A large component of the population is of native race living at a very low standard of sanitation under conditions likely to contribute to […]
The 1953 Missions Administration Conference [EN 8/45]
An extract from the Conference transcript (p11-18) The Agenda was amended to provide for the presentation of PASTOR F.W. ALBRECHT’S paper, UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA. “Economic Rehabilitation of Aborigines” prior to that of Dr Cook’s. DR. C.E. COOK, SENIOR MEDICAL OFFICER, COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, CANBERRA, on addressing the Conference on the subject “Educating […]
The Native Health Problem Today – 1955 [EN 8/54]
The health problem created by the native population in the Northern Territory today differs in some respects from that confronted when the Northern Territory Medical Service was first established. These differences are due principally shifts in emphasis upon particular aspects of the problem, shifts which derive in part from the successes of the Service in […]
Northern Territory Medical Service – 1951
The Northern Territory Medical Service was established in 1928 to provide effectual machinery to control and eliminate endemic tropical disease from Northern Australia and to ensure that the area might be maintained as one suitable for permanent occupation by a healthy and prosperous white community. Fundamental to its organisation were two basic principles of policy, […]
Proposed Native Welfare Ordinance: Northern Territory [EN 8/65, 66]
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I have today for the first time, had an opportunity of cursorily examining the “Bill for an Ordinance to provide for the Care and Assistance of Certain Persons”, recently rejected by the Northern Territory Legislative Council. As the Bill is presumably now under review I am prompted to offer certain comments which I feel […]
Health Interest in Native Administration – 1953 [EN 8/67]
The future of successful settlement and development in Northern Australia is entirely dependent upon the control of certain tropical diseases endemic or likely to become endemic in the tropical environment. Prevailing environmental conditions will make the control of tropical disease difficult even in an enlightened white population. The existence of a substantial section of the […]