AUTOGRAPH BOOK
1954Handmade pale green autograph book with padded, clear PVC front and back covers bound together with two brass rivets, with decorative blue vinyl thonging slip stitch around the cover's edges.
The front cover features a colour picture, possibly cut from a magazine, of a view from Mt Eliza across Perth city with bush in the foreground and the Darling Scarp in the distance.
The inside pages contain autographs and ditties from staff, friends and inpatients of Ward 52 at Royal Perth Hospital where the owner of the autograph book, Gil Chapman, was a patient in 1954.
Details
Details
The front inside cover includes a note added in 2010 which reads:
'A lot of these autographs were written when I was in RPH after losing my leg on Easter Saturday 1954.
A motorcycle accident on the Quindanning Road Ap 17. Dr Steven (?) Narrogin Hospital performed the amputation. I was transferred to RPH about May 1 1954 because of gangrene. My surgeon at RPH was Dr Pannell a great man who was determined to save my knee joint which he did. I was released from RPH in Nov 1954. All the staff on Ward 52 were a great bunch of people. Other surgeons were Dr Deakins, Hill, Bedbrook and later Gilmore. Gil Chapman 2010.'
A notation by Gil Chapman in 2010 under an entry from 'Your old Hockie' suggests Gil Chapman made the book as part of his occupational therapy.
'Occupational therapist - a Dutch woman who drove an Austen A30 car - she also visited Fremantle Hosp. She supplied the material for this autograph book'.
Another notation reads:
'There were no counsellors in those days. Not much was known about artifical limbs. Repat at Hollywood made prosthetics - a workshop in Murray St. Syd Gorringe made my first limb. Rolf Boetcher (?) Civilian Maimed and Limbless Assoc in later years made many of my legs'.
The donor, Moira Jones, has included the following reflection on one of the pages:
'NB I have been asked to pass this on. Moira Jones. 2010.
Gil Chapman and I (then Moira O'Neill) were born in the Gnowangerup Hospital 5 days apart. The matron of the hospital put both of us in the same cot, so we slept together once, as we tell folks, which creates a laugh!!
Gil and I, and our families, remain life long friends. However, it was an example of Gil's wonderful attitude to life, that as a promising sportsman and farmer, he took the loss of his leg so well. I was able to visit regularly from Sept 1954, when I began my nursing training at RPH. We remain close friends.
Moira Jones'.
Western Australia
Australia
This autograph book provides rare insight into a patient's experience at Royal Perth Hospital in the 1950s. It is an example of personal memorabilia from a young man who was severely injured and spent months recuperating at RPH during which time he became acquainted with staff across the hospital. The autographs include entries from a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, wards maid, X Ray Department and nurses, as well as notations added by Gil as an older man reflecting on his experience.
