Induction of paediatric anaesthesia c . 1952,Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children,Camperdown,Sydney

Cover photo. Voyage into dreamland. From the 74th Annual Report of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, Sydney (reproduced with permission).

The image

This styled artistic portrait photograph shows open ether anaesthesia of a child around 1952–1953. ¹ The anaesthetist on the right is Dr Robert William ‘Bill’ Jefferis. The assistant and child are unknown. The anaesthetic induction agent is ether in an 8 oz bottle with a Bellamy–Gardner dropper. The child has a metal frame Bellamy–Gardner anaesthesia mask that is covered with a crimped cotton pack from the surgical packs of the day.

This image is from the 74th Annual Report of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (RAHC), Camperdown, Sydney, ¹ known to many as the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown (now the Children’s Hospital at Westmead since 1995). In the annual report it is accompanied by the following text:

Voyage into dreamland

Colourful murals telling of the delights and wonders to be found in the Land of Dreams are important psychological aids to anaesthesia.

The anaesthetist

Dr Bill Jefferis (1925–2008) graduated from the University of Sydney in 1952 and was a resident medical officer at RAHC at the time this image was taken. He attained the Diploma of Anaesthesia in 1963, FFARACS in 1965 becoming an original FANZCA in 1992. He was the former Director of Anaesthesia at the Mater Public Hospital in Sydney, later locating to Hornsby Hospital when the Mater Public closed in 1982. ² Dr Jefferis chaired one of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists standards subcommittees in the early 1980s³ and worked as Medical Advisor at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Sydney for many years.

The anaesthetic department at RAHC was formally established in 1947. ⁴ Dr Andrew Distin Morgan had been appointed in 1940, being supported at this stage by Drs HW Bartrop and JRB Beaumont as honorary anaesthetists. Much of the anaesthesia for routine surgery at this time would have been provided by the resident medical officers using ethyl chloride spray and open drop ether. Monitoring of anaesthesia at this time would have been a finger on the pulse, close clinical observation of colour, with perhaps a praecordial stethoscope attached to an earpiece.

The photographer

Like all hospitals in Australia, RAHC published an annual report with photographs of many of the activities of the hospital. For 11 years, from the 71st Report of 1950–1951 until the 81st Report of 1960–1961, the photography in these reports was provided by Max Dupain. His name was acknowledged on the back cover of each report for this period.

Max Dupain (1911–1992) is one of Australia’s most revered and influential photographers, renowned for his works including the famous image ‘Sunbaker’. Dupain was born in Sydney, recording many varied aspects of Sydney during his life. The images in these reports would have been part of the normal contracted work of a photographer at the time, reflecting his unique portrait style and approach to the children in hospital.

Murals

The quote above mentions the murals on the walls of fairies and other ‘make believe’ images present in the anaesthetic rooms at RAHC Camperdown as well as other parts of the hospital (see Figure 1). These were handpainted in the late 1930s by the famous Australian children’s illustrator, Pixie O’Harris (1903–1991), also famous for her book Pearl Pinkie and Sea Greenie. The ‘O’ actually stood for Olive but she accepted ‘O’Harris’ as a nom de plume. She returned to the hospital over the years to maintain the murals.

Figure 1.

Mural by Pixie O’Harris in an anaesthetic bay at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, 1995. Photography by MG Cooper.

The text in the murals was by Ruth Bedford (1882–1963), an Australian poet, playwright and novelist. She wrote Hundreds and Thousands—a fictional work for children in 1934 illustrated by Pixie O’Harris. Bedford was very close friends with the famed Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar.