Pins & Needles

THE BLOG OF THE GEOFFREY KAYE MUSEUM OF ANAESTHETIC HISTORY

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome to Pins and Needles, the brand new blog of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History. We’re really excited to have you join us. The Geoffrey Kaye Museum has been around since about 1935.

Tell Matilda all about it…

Tell Matilda all about it…

In March 2020 none of us could have accurately foreseen what would unfold over the next few years. Looking back, the closest thing we could identify was the post-World War I influenza pandemic. And, that was over a century earlier. The 1918-19 influenza pandemic saw...

Of International Significance

Of International Significance

In December 2022, we commissioned Dr Megan Cardamone from Circa Museum Services to undertake a whole of collection significance assessment. For quite a while we’ve thought the collection was one of international and national significance, and we wanted an independent...

Portrait of Dr Rodney Mitchell

Portrait of Dr Rodney Mitchell

At the end of each president’s term, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) commissions a portrait. There is now quite the collection of painted portraits dating back to 1992, when the college formally came into being. In 2016, ANZCA Council...

The life of Dr Robin William Smallwood

The life of Dr Robin William Smallwood

Dr Robin Smallwood was Dean, Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1986-87). In this blog post, his wife Rosalind Smallwood, and colleagues, Dr Geoff Gutteridge and Professor Barry Baker AM, remember his great contributions to the...

“Spiritus Anaesthesiae”, The Reach of Anaesthesia

“Spiritus Anaesthesiae”, The Reach of Anaesthesia

Dr David Fenwick is a retired anaesthetist from South Australia. In 2010, Dr Fenwick gifted the college a bronze statuette, representing Spiritus Anaesthesiae. In this blog post, Dr Fenwick describes his inspiration, as well as the benefits of anaesthesia and...

Upcoming exhibition: Djeembana Whakaora

Upcoming exhibition: Djeembana Whakaora

On 26 April 2021, we met with curators, Kat Clarke and Paris Norton, to discuss the museum’s upcoming exhibition Djeembana Whakaora: First Nations medicine, health and healing. We got to chat about their philosophies for developing the exhibition, as well as some...

2021 History of Medicine Talk Series

2021 History of Medicine Talk Series

During April, as part of the Australian Heritage Festival, we're running a small series of online talks. Come join us for some interesting discussions. They Didn’t Feel a Thing: Chloroform and Serial Killers Join us as we talk to Rebecca Lush, the curator of the...

Anaesthesia training in Papua New Guinea

Anaesthesia training in Papua New Guinea

Associate Professor Terry Loughnan is an ANZCA fellow with a particular interest in the history of anaesthesia training in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He is also the 2019 recipient of the ANZCA History and Heritage Grant. He had planned to conduct a series of oral history...

Impacts of the pandemic on anaesthetic trainees

Impacts of the pandemic on anaesthetic trainees

Dr Richard Seglenieks is an Anaesthetic Registrar at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne. Here, he provides some additional reflections following on from a previous post in June 2020. I have found living and working through the COVID-19 pandemic stressful, and I know many...

COVID-19 as an Anaesthetic Trainee

COVID-19 as an Anaesthetic Trainee

Dr Richard Seglenieks is an Anaesthetic Registrar at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne. Here, he records his reflections on the 'strange times' we're living and working in during 2020.   We are living in strange times. It feels entirely inadequate, yet also...