A STEP FORWARD IN COMMUNITY HEALTH
The following newspaper extract reports on the opening of the Yallourn Infant Welfare Centre in 1949. It was great news for the town and the new amenity meant a great deal for local families. As mentioned in the report below, the Country Women’s Association had lobbied long and hard to the SEC for a new health facility dedicated to infants and their mothers.
The Infant Welfare Centre was built overlooking the gardens in Broadway; it was an ideal site for such an important building for mothers and children to visit as needed.
In the article below, numerous names are mentioned, but once again Dr James Moore Andrew was at the forefront of the development of the centre for the township. In so many areas of community health and welfare for the people of Yallourn, Dr Andrew’s vision and dynamism were unparalleled.
Some of the photographs that accompany this newspaper report were discovered in the archives of the Museum of Victoria. There is every chance that some readers may recognise the mothers shown in the photograph.
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NOVEMBER 29th 1949 MORWELL ADVERTISER PAGE 8
Yallourn Infant Welfare Centre.
OFFICIAL OPENING LAST SATURDAY
BUILT and equipped at a cost of nearly £6,000, the Yallourn Infant Welfare Centre, which embodies the very latest trends in infant welfare facilities, was opened on Saturday afternoon last by the Chairman of the State Electricity Commission, Mr. R. A. Hunt.
The building is situated in a garden setting of the Children's Playground in Broadway, and will be used in the main, as a pre-natal clinic, thereby relieving in that regard the pressure on the Yallourn Health Centre.
Administered by the Commission through its General Superintendent, Mr. W. Morrison and the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. J. Moore Andrew, the Centre is expected to adequately provide for the needs of mothers in a population of 7,000. Sisters N. White and S. M. Kippin, have been appointed to staff the Centre.
Brigadier John Field, in introducing Mr. Hunt, said that on this important occasion, marking another step in the development of the town, it was a pleasure to welcome a well-known figure in Mr. Hunt, the chairman of the Commission, to open the Infant Welfare Centre, which owed a great deal to his initiative and interest.
The Centre with the Kindergarten, filled a need for the mothers and children of the town. He extended a warm welcome also to Dr. Barbara Meredith, of the Department of Public Health, councillors of the Shires of Morwell and Narracan and representatives of the Yallourn Medical and Hospital Society. Mr. Hunt said that the credit for the establishment of the unit should go to the local branch of the C.W.A., who, as long as he could remember plugged away at the idea of a separate Baby Health Centre, and he desired to congratulate them on the coming to fruition of their idea, even though they may have lagged in the race in recent years.
For years the Commission had the Health Centre and thought that it sufficed for the special service sought. The opening that day was yet another indication of how long it took women to educate men. He was proud and happy to hand over a building that embodied all that the architects could put into it. The organisation would be mothered by Dr. Barbara Meredith and the Centre must always conform to the rules of Dr. Meredith's Department, and so would not lack advice from the best quarters. When envisaged it was to have been a Baby Health Centre, but it was subsequently pointed out by the Medical and Hospital Society that it would be an advantage to have pre-natal work in the main building.
The whole set-up would now provide proper treatment to the Kindergarten stage. The Baby Health Centre itself was under the control of the Department of Public Health and free to all. It would not be confined to Yallourn and Yallourn employees, but would be open to all Shires. Advice to mothers would be available to all.
In fitting in the pre-natal facilities, which came under the control of the Hospital and Medical Society, the size of the building was increased so that this activity might be alongside the Baby Health Centre.
On behalf of Yallourn mothers, he sincerely thanked the Shire of Morwell for the facilities in infant care extended to them in large numbers. The Yallourn Centre would now provide a second service for Morwell mothers.
He had much pleasure in introducing Dr. Barbara Meredith; Dr. Meredith apologised for the absence of the Minister, who was otherwise engaged but nevertheless extremely interested in the unique set-up of the Yallourn Centre, which would care for the child from 0 to 6 years.
Very few centres had the three services, pre natal, infant welfare and pre-school, but Yallourn would have the advantage of the three under close medical direction. The nature of Yallourn made such an organisation possible, and It would mean much for child health. On behalf of her Department, she congratulated the Commission on a beautiful building in a beautiful setting.
The Shire President, Cr, A. W. Ronald, represented Morwell.
FOOTNOTES.
1. Other articles and photographs regarding Dr. Andrew can be found on this website.
2. £6000 in 1949 would equate to $320, 000 (approx.) in 2016.
3. Mr Hunt, mentioned above, was the Chairman of the SECV from 1946 until 1956. In earlier times, Mr Hunt had been a resident engineer; and according to Prue McGoldrick… “He was to be seen inspecting the area on horseback” when he eventually took on the role of General Superintendent of Yallourn.
4. Mr Morrison was General Superintendent of Yallourn from 1949-51.
5. Two of the photographs included in this story were gathered from the Museum of Victoria archives.
6. For younger readers, the CWA is an acronym for the Country Women’s Association of Yallourn. The Yallourn branch of the CWA was established in 1929 and, throughout the history of the town, was an important organization in advocating and lobbying for improvements for the families of Yallourn.
7. The Yallourn branch of the CWA played a vital role in establishing the infant welfare centre, the kindergarten, facilities for the elderly residents of the town and it always maintained a keen interest in matters related to the wellbeing of the residents of Yallourn.
8. Dr Meredith (1895-1979) was a most enlightened and forceful figure in issues related to infant welfare. It is a great pity that her remarkable work for the Department of Health has been overlooked or forgotten by historians. Her tireless efforts were beneficial and long- lasting throughout so many Victorian towns. It is known that …
“During her term of office the number of infant welfare centres in Victoria doubled (from 296 to 600), pre-schools increased from 185 to 458 and municipal prenatal clinics grew tenfold to 30”… ABD Vol:15; 2000.
9. In the photograph of the opening of the centre it is probable that the gentleman wearing the suit (shown in the centre of the group) is Brigadier John Field (as mentioned above).
10. According to Prue McGoldrick, the facility took on a ‘new life’ after its demolition in the last days of the town …
“Yallourn’s actual brick veneer infant welfare centre resumed its former function in Boolarra.”
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This story is part of a history project entitled ‘From the Newspapers’ and a full list of titles in this series can be obtained by contacting Julie George. The research, writing and posting of this article were completed by Julie and Roger Spaull for the Virtual Yallourn website in June 2016.
The above extract from the ‘Morwell Advertiser’ has been faithfully reproduced. The only amendments to the original copy are the font style, font size and spacing, so as to enhance the story for the purposes of posting on the Virtual Yallourn
