
Dangerous to Know
Queensland Colonial doctors and mental illness
Duncan Richardson(Author)
Lulu.com (Publisher)
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
550 pages
978-1-326-61313-6 (ISBN)
Description
Medicine in the mid 19th century was on the threshold of life-saving discoveries and developments so a doctor might use leeches to suck blood one day and an anesthetic the next. But in the zone of mental illness, real treatment was still very distant. Most doctors believed that cold water immersion, straight jackets and brandy would cure a disturbed person. In Queensland's early years as a colony, the government hurriedly ordered a mental asylum to be built at Woogaroo. Another asylum for the poor and chronically ill was set up on Stradbroke Island. To assess people's state of mind, a Reception House was opened in the old barracks on Spring Hill. The medical men, with no training, would oversee these places, and employ staff based on their physical strength. Lack of skill and effective drugs were not the only reasons why patients received little care. The doctors had other priorities. Often described in biographies as medical heroes, many of these men were actually dangerous to know.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
703 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-326-61313-6 (9781326613136)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Duncan Richardson migrated to Australia in 1970, taught in Botswana from 1987 to 1988, and returned to work in Australia as a part-time teacher. His fiction has been published in various anthologies such as Obliquity, Futurevisions, Subtropical Suspense, Lighthouses and Within/Without Walls. In 2008, his verse play The Grammar of Deception was produced and broadcast by ABC Radio National.
Richardson has published several children's books, including readers for Macmillan, Wennabees and Yum-Worms(2005), Revenge (2005), Jason Chen and the Time Banana (2008) and Dinomania (2014). He is a part time English as a Second Language teacher and regularly runs writing workshops for adults and kids. His first history book, "Year of Disaster: Brisbane 1864" was released in 2017 followed two years later by "Captives of the Spanish Lady" about the flu quarantine in 1919 and "Civilising Brisbane" in 2021, about three colonial women who changed the face of the town.