This week, Roy is really excited to share with you a lovely little museum he recently discovered. He was visiting Lady Davidson Hospital and noticed a sign out saying that their museum was open. Well, Roy didn't even realise they had a museum, so of course he had to visit. After a little searching, Roy found a lovely heritage building filled with fascinating items and pictures, and with a wonderful story attached. In fact, this little museum is so full of history that Roy can't tell you all of it in one week, so he will revisit some time in the future.
Lady Davidson Hospital is located on Bobbin Head Road in North Turramurra (NSW), and borders the beautiful Ku-Ring-Gai National Park. The hospital was established in 1918 as a Red Cross rehabilitation and convalescent hospital for World War One Veterans suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Today, Lady Davidson continues to operate as a general rehabilitation hospital. The Museum is located in the old Du Faur home, Flowton, near the edge of the National Park. The museum, Flowton Museum, takes its name from the building and is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am until 2pm (except Public Holidays). One of the most fascinating collections housed in the Flowton Museum is a collection of prosthetic (artificial) limbs and accessories, like shoes. Roy had, of course, heard about artificial limbs, but he had never seen any and was fascinated by them.
Many might at first assume that artificial limbs are a modern creation, but they actually have a very long and interesting history - just think of the stereotypical 'peg leg' pirate with a wooden leg. Yet artificial limbs go back even further in history! In fact, there is a written reference from Herodotus in 500BC which refers to a prisoner who cut off his foot to escape chains and later replaced the foot with a wooden version. We have more evidence of ancient prosthetics than just written references though. A wooden and copper leg, dating from about 300BC was found in Capri in Italy in 1858!
In these early times, artificial limbs would have been needed mainly when legs or arms were lost in accidents or battle. It wasn't until 1529 that the French Surgeon, Ambroise Pare, introduced amputation as a routine medical procedure to save peoples lives. After introducing amputation, Pare soon began to work on scientifically creating prosthetic limbs. Throughout history, advances continued to be made to the prosthetics until in the 20th century they became realistic looking and were able to be manipulated in place of 'real' limbs.
The collection which Flowton Museum houses came from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Repatriation Artificial Limb and Appliance Centre. This had been located in North Sydney, and when it closed down, many of their limbs came to 'live' in the Leg Room at Flowton Museum. Most of the legs were made in the 1980s, but there are some wonderful older legs which had been traded in. Roy particularly liked the one in the photo above which was lined with kangaroo fur, possibly by its owner, to make it more comfortable. Roy thought it would be very hot in summer! Flowton Museum also has a collection of artificial arms, many of which are tiny. They were made for children affected by the chemical thalidomide, who were often born without limbs. Roy was also fascinated by the special footwear, particularly the shoe below. It was almost as big as he is! To find out more about Flowton, visit aMUSine The next issue, with its feature about Flowton will be out on Tuesday March 1 at 9:00am (2011)
