Nick Jarvis
Sleeping History
I recently visited a historic site, Willow Court, located in New Norfolk, a town near Hobart.
***While cataloguing artefacts we observed many artefacts that related to patient-practitioner relations, a topic not well recorded outside their respective fields. We recorded 15 complete (or almost complete) beds, and many bed-related items. From these beds we deduced a rough typology, starting with these iron beds: ***
These iron beds are often described as the ‘Port Arthur’ pattern and were ordered for the Barracks by the medical superintendant, Dr Officer, at the end of 1830. An order for 200 iron beds originally went to England, but was refused on the grounds that they could be ‘procured on the spot’ (Gowlland 1981:14), causing delays.
To continue reading please follow the link: http://flindersarchaeology.com/2016/03/04/sleeping-history/#comment-3070
