50 Years of Discovery at NMA

Just over 50 years ago, even in Australia, children’s health was not a medical specialisation - and the statistics showed it.  At that time, some 20 children in 1,000 died from diseases that are now extremely rare. 

An exhibition at the National Museum of Australia (NMA), ‘50 Years of Discovery’, tells the wonderful story of the people who decided to change the situation - by establishing the Children’s   Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in Sydney. 

The exhibition opens on 12 March in the NMA’s main hall and will run until 4 May. 

Imagine the scene in June 1958 - a leading paediatrician of the day, Sir Lorimer Dods, decided to hold a public meeting at Sydney Town Hall.  It was packed and the whole room voted to set up Australia’s first research facility dedicated to researching children’s health.

That public meeting launched an enormous appeal, kicked off by one of the first telethons (supported by ATN7), which ran for a record 27 hours.  Volunteer nurses took phone donations and entertainers were shuttled in from nightclubs to keep them (and the viewers!) awake.

So the Children’s Medical Research Foundation was born and 50 years of medical research set in motion.

Images at the ‘50 Years of Discovery’ exhibition show the first research staff working in a converted cottage on the grounds of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney and photographs from the first telethons. And you can discover for yourself the pioneering research, which led to dramatically improved survival rates for premature babies, new vaccination programs, microsurgery and warnings of the dangers of alcohol consumption in pregnancy – to name a few.

One of the things that makes the early years so interesting for what was then the Children’s Medical Research Foundation (it became Institute in 1992); was the energetic fundraising by committees, notably the Canberra Auxiliary.  In its first year 1960, it raised 14,000 pounds.  This is no mean feat considering Canberra’s population was about 48,000 at the time.  This has risen to over $1 million today.

“An appeals division of the committee organised Canberra’s first door-knock appeal, which was warmly welcomed,” said Carolyn Forster, OAM, a Director of the NMA, Vice President of CMRI’s board and CMRI Canberra Committee member. “One of the messages we are keen to get across is that although today’s statistics show childhood deaths have been dramatically reduced to five deaths in 1,000 children (aged up to 14), there’s still much research work to do over the next 50 years.”