A short history of the origins of radiography in Australia
Introduction
The discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röentgen on the 8th November 1895 was a major technological step forward in medical science and a global historical event. However, people make history and so its relevance can best be appreciated when placed in the context of the time and the people who played a role in the dissemination of this remarkable discovery. The concept of being able to produce images of bones and joints by generating a beam of invisible rays was in the realm of science fiction at the time, so when it reached the press, the story spread across the world rapidly (for those times) even to farthest flung British colony in the Southern hemisphere, Australia. The scientific community grasped the concept and, having the necessary apparatus readily available, was quick to find local medical applications for this revolutionary technology.
Section snippets
Discovery in context: Australia in 1895
In November 1895, at the time of Röentgen's momentous discovery, Australia was still largely an agrarian society, with an economy based on the export wheat, wool and other primary produce, largely to England, the Mother Country. The ‘emancipists’ had succeeded in putting an end to convict transportation only twenty-seven years earlier, with the last transport discharging its cargo on Western Australian soil in 1868.1 Australian society had matured beyond the status of a penal colony. The gold
Who produced the first X-ray images in Australia?
The first report of Röentgen's discovery appeared in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on 31st January 1896 with the following words: ‘The discovery of Röentgen's that photographic indications of substances hidden behind opaque matter can be obtained is being utilised with astounding results in surgical operations.’[3, p. 41] Similar reports also appeared in newspapers in Melbourne, Brisbane, Launceston and Perth. This news was apparently based on reports that had appeared in the London press in early
Professor Sir Thomas Rankin Lyle
It has been claimed in some early Australian literature about the discovery of X-rays that the first X-ray picture in Australia was a Röentgenogram produced by Professor Thomas Rankin Lyle at the University of Melbourne.5 However, the precise date of Lyle's initial success in producing X-rays is unknown, although it was probably at the end of February or beginning of March 1896.3 It is widely known, however, that on the 3rd March Lyle conducted a public demonstration of radiography in the
Mr Walter Drowley Filmer
Walter Filmer was born in 1865 at Maitland in the lower Hunter Valley, about 30 km to the west of Newcastle and about 200 km north of Sydney.6 He left school at the age of eleven and was apprenticed to a boot maker. His real interest, however, was in electricity and on completion of his apprenticeship he took up a position with the Postal Department, where he was appointed Assistant Telegraph Line Repairer in 1884.6 The following year he took up a position with the Department of Railways, which
Father Joseph Patrick Slattery
Like Thomas Lyle, Joseph Slattery was born in Ireland, at Waterford, famous for its glassware, and like Lyle he was highly skilled at glass-blowing.4 He went to school in Waterford and then in Dublin, before entering the catholic seminary in 1886. Two years into his training as a priest, however, he was posted to Bathurst in NSW, where the Vincentian order had taken charge of St Charles Seminary and St Stanislaus' College. He was ordained in 1891, at Bathurst. Although his principal interest
Conclusion
These were three remarkable men of science, who rightly deserve to be remembered for their pioneering achievements in medical radiography in Australia. They came from very different sectors of society: a distinguished university professor; a boot maker-come-telegraph line repairer, turned electrician and amateur scientist; and an Irish-born catholic priest who taught science at a secondary College. They also shared a great deal in common. They were all highly intelligent and high achievers in
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