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The Wondrous Story of Anesthesia pp 303–320Cite as

The History of Anaesthesia in Australia and New Zealand

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Abstract

Before Europeans arrived in Australia and New Zealand, neither of the indigenous peoples, aborigines or Maori, used any form of anaesthesia. The news of anaesthesia arrived in Britain’s furthest colonies in May 1847. Australians William Pugh and John Belisario independently gave ether on 7 June 1847. In New Zealand, an instrument maker gave the first surgical anesthetic on 27 September 1847. Chloroform arrived in 1848. Portable and non-flammable, it was the ideal agent in a country of widely scattered rural communities. In the late 1870s, the risks inherent to chloroform became increasingly apparent and ether and nitrous oxide replaced chloroform.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    FH Faulding and Company was taken over in 2010 by Mayne Group, and following a demerger in 2005, is now part of Symbion Pharmacy Services.

  2. 2.

    Australasia refers to Australia and New Zealand, as in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

  3. 3.

    Until 1962 in Australia, and 1967 in New Zealand, the local medical associations were branches of the British Medical Association.

  4. 4.

    Sectioning refers to the use of a lathe and other engineering equipment to cut apparatus in different planes, so as to demonstrate their internal construction and operation.

  5. 5.

    The Commonwealth Medical Benefits Schedule (CMBS) is an indexed list of medical procedures and consultations to which the Commonwealth Government ascribes a “fee” that determines the basis of reimbursement to patients of medical fees paid. All Australian citizens are entitled to a refund of 75% of the CMBS “fee”, and optional private health insurance can be taken to cover the remaining 25%. The “fee” is indexed each year. However, indexation at minimal rates over the years has seriously eroded the value of the refunds paid, and in many cases, they now fall far short of medical fees actually charged. Nowhere has this been more evident than with anaesthesia fees.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Rod N. Westhorpe OAM, MB, BS, FRCA, FANZCA

Authors
  1. Rod N. Westhorpe OAM, MB, BS, FRCA, FANZCA
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Correspondence to Rod N. Westhorpe OAM, MB, BS, FRCA, FANZCA .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Edmond I Eger II MD Emeritus Professor

  2. Departments of Anesthesia, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Lawrence J. Saidman MD Emeritus Professor

  3. Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Rod N. Westhorpe OAM, MB, BS FRCA, FANZCA Former Honorary Curator

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© 2014 Edmond I Eger, MD

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Westhorpe, R. (2014). The History of Anaesthesia in Australia and New Zealand. In: Eger II, E., Saidman, L., Westhorpe, R. (eds) The Wondrous Story of Anesthesia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8441-7_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8441-7_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8440-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8441-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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