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Medicine in Society Collection

Image: CSL penicillin (1944)

Source: Museum Victoria

The Medicine in Society collection consists of some 7000 objects that reflect aspects of the changes in Victorian medical practice and research over the last 120 years.

This diverse collection is of national significance, telling many important Victorian and Australian stories of medicine, medical research and public health. It takes in items such as dental and surgical instruments, food models, prostheses, pharmacy furniture, medicinal herbs and psychiatric items.

Significant items:

General medical and surgical equipment used by Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop after the Second World War.

Research equipment and medicinal samples from the internationally significant Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) (1918-84).

A 19th-century wooden medicine chest with compartments containing a range of pharmaceuticals.

Prostheses and body parts from the early 20th century to the present, many designed and manufactured in Australia.

19th-century medical equipment, including a blood-letting instrument, pill-making slabs and rollers, a powder stretcher and straightjackets.

Equipment from the Polack dental surgery in Melbourne (1930-85), including teeth-cleaning powders, samples of false teeth, anaesthesia equipment and various dental instruments.

Equipment from the Whitehead medical practice in Melbourne (1935-86), including a circumcision clamp, mouth gags and catheters, as well as a variety of gynaecological devices.

Preventative Medicine Exhibition models from the museum (1930s-1960s), including a mosquito model for the malaria exhibit (1949).

Cochlear implant (bionic ear) developed by Graeme Clark and his team.

Examples of some of the first lithium-powered pacemakers in the world, developed by Australian scientists at Teletronics and Medtronic.

The Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital Collection, 1904-1996.

Objects demonstrating contemporary uses of biotechnology in medicine.

The first DNA sequencer used in Australia, the ABI 370.

Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 1314 items

Letter - Imogen to The Alfred hospital Burns Unit, Lane Cove NSW, Feb 2009

This letter was sent by Imogen (with the help of a grown-up) from Lane Cove NSW to the patients of The Alfred hospital's Burns Unit after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009.

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Greeting Card - Mary and Jim to The Alfred hospital Burns Unit, Feb 2009

This card was sent by Mary and Jim to the nursing staff of The Alfred hospital's Burns Unit after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009. The Burns Unit, as one of the major hosp ...

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Letter - Troy to The Alfred hospital Burns Unit, Feb 2009

This letter was sent by Troy to the patients of The Alfred hospital's Burns Unit after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009. He has included a stick-figure drawing of a family, ...

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Letter - Joshua to The Alfred hospital Burns Unit, Feb 2009

This letter was sent by Joshua (with help from a grown-up) to the patients of The Alfred hospital's Burns Unit after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009.

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Greeting Card - Elia & Knott Families to The Alfred hospital Burns Unit Staff, Feb 2009

This handmade card was sent by the Elia and Knott families to the doctors and nurses of The Alfred hospital's Burns Unit after the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009. The Burns U ...

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Capsules - Unknown, Parke, Davis & Co, circa 1950

Capsules - Unknown, Parke, Davis & Co, circa 1950. Cardboard box containing seventy-five large plastic capsules. The box is without a lid, but half the label remains. Label suggests tha ...

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Colorimeter - Hellige, F & Co, circa 1914

Colorimeter - Hellige, F & Co, circa 1914, Australian distributor H.B. Selby & Co. Ltd., Melbourne & Sydney. Used for testing blood and urine in the laboratory at Mont Park Mental Hospi ...

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Drawing on Wood - circa 1977

An unfinished piece of wood with an illustration of four people dancing. Created by a patient at Mayday Hills Hospital, a mental health hospital in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia circa ...

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Singlet - Cream Flannel, circa 1950

Singlet - Cream Flannel, circa 1950. Used: circa 1950 used in a mental hospital in Victoria.

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Pillowcase - Cream Canvas with Blue Stripe, circa 1900

Pillowcase - Cream Canvas with Blue Stripe, circa 1900 Alternative Name(s): Pillowslip. Made in psychiatric hospital, Mayday Hills Hospital Item made in tailor's shop at the hospital. U ...

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