Life in the Open Air: Place as a Therapeutic and Preventative Instrument in Australia's Early Open-air Tuberculosis Sanatoria

Abstract

As the open-air sanatorium movement gained popularity during the nineteenth century, the therapeutic benefits of place were promoted in the crusade against tuberculosis by both medical professionals and architects. Fresh air, isolation, hygiene, discipline and education in a non-urban environment at high altitude were seen to be the keys to successful open-air treatment at sanatoria around the world. However, open-air sanatoria in Australia were not only therapeutic places, they were instruments of prevention. This article examines Australian tuberculosis sanatoria designed on the open-air treatment principles from 1895 to 1910. It focuses predominantly on Kalyra and Nunyara, both at Belair, South Australia, and the Queen Victoria Home for Consumptives at Wentworth Falls, New South Wales. In doing so, it explores the contribution of the buildings and landscape to the machinery of health as both an instrument of cure and prevention.

Author's Note

I would like to thank the staff of the Mitcham Heritage Research Centre, the Blue Mountains Historical Society Inc., the State Library of South Australia and the University of South Australia Library. I am also grateful to Peter Lekkas, Dr Susan Lustri and the referees for their comments on the paper.

Notes

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