Safe milk for your child.
Public health campaign posters, mid-twentieth century.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 352 and 351)
From the early twentieth century the NSW Ministry of Health expanded and consolidated state government administration of public health. This included the creation of a Publicity Branch of the State Health Department in 1926. The emphasis was on education and increasing awareness of key health issues.
A particular focus was on promoting the importance of general health measures in caring for babies and of balanced and nutritional diets. The concern was triggered by the high infant mortality rates at the turn of the century, and the realisation that a significant factor was gastroenteritis caused by contamination of the food given to infants.
Campaigns to create awareness of the benefits of cleanliness, sterilisation and a balanced diet resulted in the establishment of Baby Health Clinics as well as education and publicity programs.
The posters in the Maitland Hospital Collection were part of these campaigns.
Public health campaign posters, mid-twentieth century.
The exact dating of the posters is difficult. There is a suggestion that at least some of them were produced as the result of a competition and exhibition held in 1934.
The exhibition of posters was held at the Blaxland Galleries in Sydney. At the opening of the exhibition then Minister of Health, R W D Weaver:
The posters in the Maitland Hospital Collection were in storage in 2021. They were framed. This suggests that, at some stage, they were hanging somewhere in the hospital.
In 2022 they will return to the hospital walls and will be hung outside the public lift lobbies on Level 2.
References
Cummins, C J, A History of Medical Administration in NSW 1788-1973, Second Edition, Sydney, NSW Health, 2003 (1979).