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 Requirements of Health Administration in North Australia – 1929 [EN 3/29)
Report to the Federal Health Council A combination of diverse factors complicates health administration and the provision of medical services in Northern Australia. In the Southern States, the functions of health administration are mainly concerned with the sanitation of a white community of relatively high density living in an environment not greatly dissimilar in climatic […]
Re the Australian Inland Mission Frontier Medical Service [EN 3/44]
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CUSTOMS HOUSE, SYDNEY 31st JULY 1930 Dear Dr. Cumpston, In reply to your letter of the 23rd instance asking for my comments upon the Frontier Medical Service proposal of the Australian Inland Mission, I submit her a few reflections on the matter which I hope may be of some […]
The appointment of a Medical Officer at Burketown
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CUSTOMS HOUSE, SYDNEY 14th August 1930 Dear Sir, Adverting to your letter of 23rd July relative to the suggestion that the Commonwealth should assist in the appointment of a Medical Officer at Burketown, Northern Queensland, I submit herewith a possible solution of the difficulty. As a preliminary I suggest […]
Inspection of Missions – Instructions to Medical Officers [8/11]
Report upon the inspection of Missions is to be made in accordance with the attached pro forma. For the information of Medical Officers the following amplifying instructions are being issued to indicate the scope of inquiry in respect of the various headings and sub-headings. A. SITE: Suitability. Report should indicate whether the site is considered […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]