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Medical Practitioners in the Richmond Valley, 1866–1986
Neil Thompson, FRCS, FRACS
Not sure which to choose? The EPUB adjusts to your screen and text size. The PDF keeps the printed layout, page numbers and index.
This reference chronicle has been meticulously researched by a retired local doctor and records available details of the doctors living and practising in the Richmond Valley area of NSW—from the first in 1866, for another 120 years.
It focuses on their backgrounds, the hardships encountered and their contributions to community and social life.
The book is written as a tribute to those hardy doctors in the belief that their worthy efforts should not be forgotten.
Dr Neil Thompson came to Lismore in 1976 as a resident orthopaedic surgeon, spent twenty-five years in solo consultant practice in the Richmond Valley, and researched this history himself. He died on 30 October 2021. This edition is offered in his memory so that his work stays available to the families and communities it describes.
A few lines from the book.
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes a matter of opportunity.”
“that paradise of medical quacks, with still no Medical Act”
“Snakebite was common and the only available treatment was local incision (presumably with Dad also ‘sucking’ out the venom) and giving strychnine for cases with convulsions.”
“‘Saddle Burns’ refers to the effects of long hours spent by the pioneer doctors in reaching their patients on horseback”
Eighteen towns, each with its own chapter. Read a chapter online, or open the PDF at its first page.
“land, literally and socially, on the other side of the world”
“a village called Duck Creek Mountain—a mixture of thick red mud and thick scrub”
“enough money was not available to install the first bathtub until 1900—suggesting it was a short-stay hospital”
“acted, through necessity, as local midwife and general medical adviser until a registered doctor arrived”
“a two-roomed weatherboard house”
“a strange place for a doctor to launch a new practice”
“virtually the entry port for people to move on to nearby, inland Mullumbimby”
“Even in those days, medical life could be hectic, the local paper reporting Dr Pardey attending three accident cases in the one week.”
“an important road link between Grafton and Brisbane”
“a busy river port and ship-building centre”
“access from inland being very arduous”
“his destiny to the highways and byways of a country in which distances were great and where many bricks had to be made of straw”
“a very winding seventy-kilometre upriver trip from Ballina”
“no recorded practising doctors resident before 1904”
“entrusted her with long-term appointments as judge at the flower shows and the more hazardous judge at the baby shows”
“found it difficult to attract a resident doctor in early times”
“He was soon swapping his management of fevers and smallpox for snake bites and violent injuries.”
“initially a busy port settled from the 1840s”
All three are free.
Best for phones, tablets and e-readers. Text resizes to suit you, and the contents menu links every town and doctor. Works with Apple Books, Kobo, Foliate, Calibre and most reading apps.
Download EPUBThe book exactly as printed, with page numbers and the general index. Best on a computer or for printing.
Download PDFNo download needed. Browse by town, or use the index of doctors to jump straight to a name.
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