Disabilities of the 1926 System: For the Patient: (a) At this time in Darwin, communication with the southern States was limited to one steamer a month. This steamer took about a fortnight between Darwin and Sydney. There being no possibility of successfully conducting a major operation of an advanced nature in Darwin, patients requiring such […]
Problems of Medical Service in Northern Australia
PRELIMINARY During the past seven years my duties have brought the problems of Medical Service in Northern Australia under my immediate observation. Throughout that period I have been impressed with the urgent necessity of improving existing conditions both in respect of the service rendered and the cost of providing it. As the field I have […]
History of Health Administration: Northern Territory [EN 3/28]
1864 Dr. F.E. Goldsmith appointed Colonial Surgeon and Protector of Aboriginals to accompany Finniss’ Expedition to Escape Cliffs. As Colonial Surgeon his duties included the provision of medical and surgical attention without charge to officers and men of the expedition, the supervision of sanitation, the prevention of the introduction of disease from overseas, the control […]
Evidence to the N. S. W. Joint Committee on Hospitals, 1940
Given by Dr. C.E. Cook, 12th September 1939 Before proceeding to detail the measures taken to provide adequate medical service for the Northern Territory, it is desirable to describe the conditions existing in the Territory in 1926, so that the factors contributing to the problem facing the Commonwealth may be made apparent and the somewhat […]
The Finniss Expedition of 1864 to Escape Cliffs [EN 4/1]
– THE PROTECTOR’S ROLE: A History compiled by Dr C.E. Cook The earliest attempts to colonise the northern east of Australia were made by the British Government, military and convict settlements being established successively at Fort Dundas on Ansley Strait (1824-25) at Raffles Bay (1827-29) and at Port Essington (1838-49). The sites selected were unproductive […]
The Mixed Blood Problem [EN4/2] – a history from 1899 to 1939
(Editorial note: It appears that Dr Cook wrote this paper around 1940. Dr Cook kept a number of drafts; this final version might not have been completed or published.) Dr. F. Goldsmith was the first Protector (1897-1903) who appreciated and who concerned himself with the new and growing problem created by the half-caste population. As […]
Medicine and the Australian Aboriginal: A Century of Contact in the Northern Territory [EN 4/3]
C.E. COOK, C.B.E., M.D. At the outset may I express my deep appreciation of the honour, implicit in your invitation to deliver the Herbert Michael Moran Memorial Lecture in Medical history? Conscious of this honour and its obligations, it is with some diffidence that I undertake the task. Leaving aside my personal shortcomings in preparation […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Northern Territory Medical Service – a 25-Year Reflective
The year 1953 marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Northern Territory Medical Service, an occasion worthy of note for several reasons. It recalls the first essay of any Australian Government into a comprehensive and exclusively salaried medical service for an extensive area. It commemorates the first attempt by any administration to give […]
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 […]