News and Events

Current Stories

Changing Displays - nurses serving Australia in World Wars 1 and 2

While we are still busily working on documenting and preserving our collection, we are also mindful of keeping the museum display interesting for returning visitors. Consequently, we have commenced a program of setting up new rotating displays to complement our standard country hospital layout, as well as to highlight particular aspects of the collection.

The current display which was set up in time for Anzac Day and the Mothers' Day Markets on Sunday 13th May features "Nurses at War". The display highlights a number of items in our collection, while placing them in the broader context of what it was like to be a health professional in country Australia or in the world at large in the first half of the 20th Century, and what it was like to serve overseas with Australian forces. The display features aspects of the life and service of two World War 1 nurses, Lillian Craib who trained in Charters Towers, and Martha Homewood who trained in Mt Morgan, and two World War 2 nurses, Alma Crudgington and Edna Weber, both of whom trained at the Rockhampton Hospital.

These four nurses served overseas in France, India, New Guinea and the Middle East. While the mode of travel to the World War 2 theatres of action is much as it is now except for greater use of trains, getting to World War 1 meant long periods at sea and much slower communication channels.

We hope to welcome many new and returning visitors to enjoy this display and to learn more about a world which was very different from the one we now know.

Progress with Museum Development.

Three grants received during 2011, coupled with the on-going efforts of our volunteers, have enabled the Association to undertake further work on our Collection.

A Community Heritage Grant of $4,400 from the National Library of Australia (see below) has enabled our Archivist, Yvonne Kelley, to work with Queensland Museum's Central Queensland Development Officer, Bronwyn Roper, to undertake a Significance Assessment of our Collection. This report was completed in late 2011 and will be a valuable document to help us to understand our Collection and to plan its future management.

A grant of $6,983 from the Jupiter's Casino Community Benefit Fund has enabled us to replace all of our old filing cabinets with new, lockable ones to better protect our collection, and to buy other equipment such as a data projector and screen and a special cassette tape device with which we are now converting cassette tapes of oral histories and events to the modern digital formats for preservation into the future.

Thirdly, Museum and Gallery Services Queensland awarded us $3,053 to purchase archival storage media. This includes special packaging and storage materials which are especially pure (eg acid free) so that museum collection items will not be harmed by the materials in which they are stored. There are also items to assist in detecting and eliminating possible vermin such as silverfish.

As our volunteers take advantage of these additional welcome funds, they are undertaking the parallel process of documenting the collection so that the details will be available in our database for access in the future.

While the basic structure of our public displays will remain relatively fixed for the immediate future, management committee members are working on the development of a series of rotating displays to celebrate special events and highlight aspects of the collection. It is hoped that these new and changing displays will help to attract repeat visitors.

Please visit the Museum at the Rockhampton Heritage Village at any time. The next Markets on Sunday 11 March will be an ideal time to meet members of our management committee and hear first hand about the work we are doing. Our special March display will cover the history of the development of our Museum since the Committee identified the Mt Morgan nurses' quarters as our future museum building.

International Nurses' Day Celebrations.

A long-standing Rockhampton tradition was honoured again in 2011 when the role which nurses play in our society was celebrated at events on 12 May. Unlike previous years, the 2011 celebration had two parts. The first was a staff Professional Development Program held during the afternoon at the Shearing Shed at the Rockhampton Heritage Village. The workshop was addressed by several distinguished speakers and covered such areas as nurses as commanders, simulation in nurse education, rural nursing, the experiences of nurse practitioners and nursing in Australia in 2011.

After refreshments under the Kalapa State School at the Heritage Village and tours of the adjacent Country Hospital Museum, guests enjoyed a presentation on the topic "From Then to Now" by ACHHA Archivist, Mrs Yvonne Kelley followed by The Great Debate on the topic "Generalist Nurses - Who Needs Them?".

The photograph below shows part of the crowd in the Heritage Village Shearing Shed relaxing while the judges discussed the outcome of The Great Debate. To read more details of the event and to see a number of photographs taken during the evening, click here.

ACHHA Awarded 2010 Community Heritage Grant.

We are pleased to announce that the Association has been awarded a 2010 Community Heritage Grant by the National Library of Australia. The $4,000 grant will enable the Association to undertake a significance assessment of our museum collection. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure tht items of national significance are properly assessed and documented for the future. The assessment will be carried out by Ms Bronwyn Roper, Museum Development Officer in the Central Queensland Museum Resource Centre.

In addition to the grant, our Archivist Yvonne Kelley was invited to attend three days of intensive preservation and collection management training in Canberra on 9 - 11 November 2010.

We look forward to participating in this exercise. We expect to learn a great deal from it.

Australian Country Hospital Heritage Association awarded a Special Commendation in 2010 Museum and Gallery Services Queensland Awards.

Our Association was awarded a Special Commendation by the judges in the 2010 Gallery and Museum Achievement Awards (GAMAAs). The Judges recognised our Association for our outstanding achievement in the category of 'Organisations: Volunteer Run' for our nomination 'Establishemnt of the Country Hospital Museum'. In their press release on 16 October 2010, Museum and Gallery Services Queensland stated: "In awarding the 'Establishment of the Country Hospital Museum' a Special Commendation in this category, the judges recognised the sustained and strategic volunteer effort by the Australian Country Hospital Heritage Association in delivering this massive project. They praised the Association for addressing best practice at every stage of the project and for undertaking careful planning and research prior to implementation. The judges also commended the strength and commitment of the Association's fundraising efforts to achieve its goals". Our Archivist, Yvonne Kelley, was invited to a gala event at the Caloundra Regional Gallery to accept the award on our behalf.

Country Hospital Museum commended in 2010 ABC Regional Museums Awards.

Our museum received a "Commended" award in the 2010 ABC Regional Museums Awards. There were 98 entries in the 2010 competition, of which 25 were placed in state winner or commended categories. The overall winner was the Richmond River Historical Society Museum at Lismore in northern New South Wales. This museum was first established in the 1930s. You may view our entry and those of other entrants on the ABC Radio national website at this address.

Country Hospital Museum officially opened.

We are delighted to advise that our new Country Hospital Museum at the Rockhampton Heritage Village was officially opened on Saturday 21st November 2009. Below is a photograph of the building on opening day. To read more about the museum and the opening and to see a collection of photographs taken on the day, click here.

Archived Stories

This is a list of some of the important stories covered on the News and Events page in the recent past. Click on any of the headings to go to the full story. Use your browser's back key to return to this page.

Celebrating Q150 and the new Country Hospital Museum.
Celebrating Heritage Week 2009 and International Nurses' Day.
Progress with the Museum Building refurbishment.
Rockhampton Hospital Nurses' Quarters/SAB Wake

Association Newsletters
The Association produces a printed Newsletter several times per year in order to keep both members and the general community informed of our activities.  You may download the most recent versions of the Newsletter here in pdf format by clicking the links below.

August 2011 Newsletter
April 2011 Newsletter
December 2010 Newsletter
July 2010 Newsletter
April 2010 Newsletter
August 2009 Newsletter
April 2009 Newsletter
December 2008 Newsletter
June 2008 Newsletter
March 2008 Newsletter
July 2007 Newsletter
November 2007 Newsletter

Heritage Village Events
While the Rockhampton Heritage Village and our Country Hospital Museum are open daily with static displays and guided tours are conducted by the Friends of the Village each morning, the ideal time to visit the living Village is on Market Days.  Members of our Association are always present at our Country Hospital Museum on these days.

Here is a list of the planned Market Days and special events for 2011.

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© Australian Country Hospitals Heritage Association Inc 2008