Awards & Projects

Midwives NFHS is collecting information on Midwives Maternity Homes Private Hospitals operating in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley area from 1900 to 1950's. We are seeking details of names and addresses of private hospitals, Midwife nurse in charge, others who worked with the midwife, midwives (nurses) who travelled within the district to deliver babies and background information and stories. If you have a midwife story in your family, or a Hunter Valley birth certificate in your collection mentioning a midwife, maternity home or private hospital please email details to nfhsinc@gmail.com, or post to The Secretary NFHS Inc PO Box 233 LAMBTON NSW 2299 AUSTRALIA

The journals written by the surgeons on the convict transports contain a wealth of information of value to not only the family historian, but anyone interested in the social history of Australia. Although the detail provided by individual surgeons varies widely, many of the voyages covered can be reconstructed to some degree, even as far as a day-by-day account.

Not only do most journals detail the daily sick lists, but matters concerning the distribution of victuals and other supplies, punishments, the daily weather and sailing conditions. Recommendations for better management of the service can also be discovered.

People found in the journals are not just convicts. Everyone from the incoming Colonial Secretary for Tasmania to the most humble convict’s new-born has been recorded. Soldiers and officers, their wives and children figure in the journals. Seamen and ship’s officers were also treated by the surgeons. Free settlers and their families can be found. In the majority of cases the surgeons record the nature of the medical problem and the period of time the patient remained on the sick list. Often detailed notes on the treatments given are included.

There is a popular perception that the convict transports were “hell ships”. The evidence from the journals shows that this is a very unfair assessment. Time and time again surgeons show their concern for the people in their charge and the low number of deaths, with ship after ship arriving without a fatality, is proof of their dedication.

A group of Society members has undertaken the task of transcribing the sick lists from films housed at the Mitchell Library in Sydney. It is anticipated that they will be released on a CD with a search function that will make the most of the information available. The release date will probably be in 2012 if the current rate of completing films is maintained.