COMA Tasmania

09/11/2022

It's my sad duty to report that last week the COMA committee held a meeting and voted to close down the organisation, and the museum.
I would like to thank our volunteers Claire, Avon, Lily and Philip, who have worked on our exhibition 'Shocking Treatments', which will now not be shown. Lily and Claire helped with mounting labels, writing text for labels, and laying out objects in the cases, among other jobs. Avon developed our beautiful graphic design for the exhibition. Philip helped and encouraged us in so many ways, including hanging our panels and framed prints.
It's a sad and disappointing time, but well done for your hard work.

01/11/2022

Hospital emergency departments can be stressful for patients, but a Danish nurse - and PhD candidate - wanted to help people calm down while they waited for surgery. She discovered that a pillow through which the patient could hear music was very effective.

27/10/2022

27/10/2022

Did you ever wonder where different medical specialties came from? This article discusses the origins of ICU, in the middle of the worst polio epidemic in Copenhagen, in 1952.

A heroic community effort at a daring hospital saved lives, led to today’s ventilators and revolutionized medicine — it holds lessons for our times.

24/10/2022

We're busy installing our new exhibition 'Shocking Treatments' into the Semaphore Cottage, ahead of our launch on November 12th.
Here is a 'sneak peek' behind the scenes as we lay out objects and the panels designed by our volunteer Avon Li.
The photographs are by volunteer Lily Stojcevski.
If you would like to come along to the launch, you can rsvp here: https://checkout.square.site/buy/2UJIOI7HSVBDQYMXFXPRJHXC

17/10/2022

COMA Tasmania Mystery Object Pop Quiz
Can you guess what this object might have been used for?

12/10/2022

04/10/2022

Up at Oatlands, there is a fabulous bar called 'The Imbibers', run out of a heritage building, once an apothecary's shop. The building has stories and secrets to share about how doctor/apothecaries were once trained...

So, some Imbibers history (well, the history related to the earliest tenant of the building). You will be familiar with that great photo that shows the original signage - John Doughty established a pharmacy in the building in the 1870s, later operated by a Mr. Drake. Well, we have just obtained the apprenticeship indenture of Sydenham Doughty, the eldest son of John Doughty, who in 1861 was apprenticed to his father for a period of five years as a 'surgeon, apothecary and manmidwife' (yes, that is a real word!). But, in a sad twist, in 1862 Sydenham Doughty died of 'pulmonary consumption', and was never able to fulfil his training. John Doughty built his apothecary empire in Southern Tasmania, with his branch at Oatlands, sadly without his son. This document is off to the framers to get some museum-quality glass so it can hang in the building as a legacy of its earliest use.

19/09/2022

COMA Tasmania Mystery Object Pop Quiz
Answer: It's an Overbeck Rejuvenator c 1930.
Otto Overbeck developed his 'Rejuvenator' based on the principles of electrotherapy. Like many advocates of electrotherapy, Overbeck believed that the majority of ailments were caused by an 'imbalance' or 'insufficiency' of electricity. If you were bald, or suffered from short-sightedness, impotence or tuberculosis, a device like this could 'cure' your ailments.
Overbeck wrote that when he first applied the device to his head, his white thinning hair grew back, and his 'mental faculties became greatly invigorated' and kidney troubles, rheumatism and short-sightedness all disappeared.
He of course became tremendously wealthy from selling his device.
For more information about Overbeck's Rejuvenator, click here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4176268/

12/09/2022

The Winter edition of the COMA Tasmania newsletter is here... (better late that never)
https://www.medicalmuseum.org.au/_files/ugd/07f83b_04387c767c614ab59ffedd7341499e01.pdf