Mary De Garis's Safety lamp
Maker
Bruces
Date
Circa 1900
Description
Guy's pattern ward lamp with side-directing light shade. It could be hung on a wall from the handle, and the base could catch wax spills. It also has a long, narrow chimney flue.
This lamp was used by Dr Mary de Garis (1881 - 1963) for ear, nose and throat examinations while resident surgeon at Tibooburra Hospital (NSW) in 1911.
In World War I de Garis paid her own way to London to contribute her medical skills after finding that women doctors were unable to enlist for active service alongside their male counterparts. Her fiancé served with the AIF and after he was killed in France, de Garis joined the Scottish Women's Hospital Corps and served in Ostrovo, Serbia from 1916 to 1918, where she became CMO and was awarded the Order of St Sava.
She found her life fulfillment in obstretrics, however. In 1919 she worked as a GP in Geelong and was responsible for opening the maternity ward and antenatal and postnatal clinics at the Geelong Hospital, where she was HMO of maternity wards (1931-41). She was an honorary obstetrician at the hospital for over 30 years.
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