The history of obstetrics and gynaecology in Australia from 1950 to 2010

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This thesis provides an overview of obstetrics and gynaecology in Australia from 1950 to 2010. The author was an active member of the discipline over that timeframe and draws on his professional experience during the period under review as one of the tools to shape a historical analysis and interpretation of the complexities and significance of change. The care of women is seen as critical to the survival of humanity but many historians do not give this subject a high priority. This thesis seeks to remedy that deficiency by providing a detailed review of the discipline during the marked increase in knowledge in medicine after World War Two, which resulted in a dramatic improvement in safety for mothers and babies. It also includes a detailed outline of the life-saving advances in the discipline over the past 60 years. The thesis also documents the impact of a rapidly changing Australian society on the discipline and its practitioners, by analysing the historical background of their education and training, and the necessary adjustments in mindset and practice of the older generations to the confronting social and cultural issues of the 1960s and beyond. Many of the controversies explored have a long history, and include the background of role delineation in the discipline, the increasing impact of legal issues, the feminist debate, the changing site of delivery, and interventions in obstetrics. But the growing awareness of ethical dilemmas, obligatory continuing professional development and bureaucratic intrusion into practice needed inclusion. A focus of the thesis is the manner in which all these issues affected the region where the author spent his practising life, illustrated by graphs, diagrams and private files acquired over that period. The thesis should be a valuable resource for historians and others interested in the medical care of women and their babies in Australia during the second half of the 20th Century