When Doctor James Hardy pushed the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) board to acquire an ambulance in 1881, there wasn't much interest.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In 1887, Tasmania's first St John's Ambulance Society formed in Launceston, but it didn't have an ambulance either.
However, by then the LGH had seen the need and the government obliged, having a suitable vehicle built in Hobart for our use. The LGH hoped they would also fund a horse to pull it!
Fortunately it arrived just as smallpox broke out.
By removing the fittings it could carry up to nine patients at a time, out to the hurriedly-built new quarantine station next to the grandstand at Mowbray racecourse.
But it became a mixed blessing.
People soon came to dread the sight of the ambulance. Painted black with no windows, it looked like a hearse! After the outbreak subsided, despite thorough sanitising, people were still fearful of using it. And its fittings had been burnt.
As the government refused to supply another, patients had to suffer poorly sprung cabs, with their legs hanging out the sides.
Finally the LGH bit the bullet in 1897 and ordered another from England. It was of the latest design and arrived the following year, to be housed at the Central Police Station.
Then, in 1899, an ambulance unit for the Northern Defence Force formed in Launceston under Surgeon-Captain Louis Holmes, and they acquired a vehicle too.
The smallpox outbreak of 1903 again made the public fearful of using the dark, forbidding LGH ambulance, and a public appeal funded the purchase of another in 1910.
Finally we had a cheerful and elegant conveyance!
In February 1919, the government sent up our first motor-ambulance, in preparation for the Spanish flu. A model T Ford, it had two beds and would convey patients to a quarantine facility at Glen Dhu.
Council expected that this would be the beginning of motorising the whole council fleet, including rubbish and water wagons.
Plans were made for a second, but the epidemic hit a few months later, before one could be arranged.
The LGH asked carriage builder Fred Paine if he could motorise the elegant horse-drawn vehicle from 1910 that was now in need of major repairs. This would enable one ambulance to carry contagious patients, with the other for accidents and ordinary cases.
A deal was done, with the LGH giving the old wagon to Council, who paid for the conversion.
However it was September 1921 before the new vehicle could be delivered. No-one wanted to cover the cost of housing and maintenance.
This led to the sad irony that when poor Fred Paine had a serious accident at work, he couldn't use the beautiful new ambulance he'd built. He had to take a cab!
In the meantime, the government ambulance suffered from the same stigma as the old "Black Maria", being similarly dark and foreboding in appearance. They should have got a woman to design it, people said!
- Connect with the past, visit Launceston Historical Society - Facebook.com/launcestonhistory
Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:
