Early Australian environmental, social and public health conditions observed by a French “man of science”
In 1873, the French warship Atalante visited Sydney for repairs. The vessel's surgeon, Dr F Bourse, had time to observe environmental, social and public health conditions in Sydney and to visit its hospitals. In the National Library of Australia, among an obscure and disparate collection of 19th century medical documents bound into a single volume, one of us (S B) chanced upon an original reprint of Bourse's account of his stay, published in French in 1876 in the Archives de médecine navale.1 We have translated this account, which forms the primary source for this article. It reveals an observer clearly impressed to find a thriving metropolis, with health care in some institutions comparable to that in Europe, notwithstanding what he regarded as an obvious undersupply of hospital services.
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- 1. Bourse F. [Contributions a la geographie medicale, Australie: Sydney] [French]. Archives de Medecine Navale Tome 25, Paris, 1876.
- 2. The French war steamer Atalante. Sydney Morning Herald 1873; 2 Sep: 5.
- 3. American & Australasian Photographic Company. Images of French warship ‘Atalante', Sydney, 1873. In: Manuscripts, oral history and pictures collection. Sydney: State Library of New South Wales. http://acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/s/search.html?collection=slnsw&form=simple&query=atalante&type=1&meta_G_sand=&sort=&submit=Search (accessed Jun 2015).
- 4. Social. Sydney Morning Herald 1873; 6 Sep: 5.
- 5. Krefft G. The snakes of Australia: an illustrated and descriptive catalogue of all the known species. Sydney: T Richards, Government Printer, 1869.
- 6. St Vincent's Hospital annual report 1874. Sydney: St Vincent's Hospital, 1874: 4.
We thank the anonymous reviewer for suggestions to improve this article, and Christine Edwards for advice on some of the pharmaceutical substances to which we refer.
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