THE FIRST HALF-CENTURY OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY IN NEW ZEALAND

Abstract

It is perhaps not surprising that in this country, with a population of less than two millions, enjoying such ample living space and with diet so abundant, the incidence of orthopaedic disorders is low. This is one of the reasons why original clinical contributions from New Zealand have been limited, and why many of our surgeons have sought postgraduate training overseas. Nowhere are the ties of Empire more strong, and such training has usually been gained in England. Not a few of our surgeons have stayed there and, although it is a loss to their home country, we still take pride in their achievement : Sir Harold Gillies, whose pioneer work in plastic surgery has gained world renown ; Sir Archibald Mclndoe and Rainsford Mowlem, who enhanced that reputation ; and many others to whom reference is made in this article. Even before orthopaedic surgery was known in this country an important contribution was made by Sir Frederic Truby King who applied scientific principles to the feeding and welfare of children and their mothers. He founded the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of \Vomen and Children, organised mothercraft centres in many parts of the world and even in such distant parts as London itself, and was directly responsible for preventing many of the disorders that would otherwise have necessitated orthopaedic treatment. The First World War-Before the first \Vorld War, orthopaedics was not recognised as a special branch of surgery, but the opportunity was then presented to many surgeons who trained under the great Sir Robert Jones. Courses were organised by him and by R. C. Elmslie at the Military Orthopaedic Hospital at Shepherd’s Bush, Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, and the Orthopaedic Hospital at Baschurch where they made the acquaintance of Dame Agnes Hunt. Colonel D. S. Wylie was entrusted with development of the first New Zealand Military Orthopaedic Unit, and Renfrew White, Wallis, Mill, Ulrich and Gower who trained with him must be named as the first orthopaedic surgeons of New Zealand. Supplied with British equipment and accompanied by plaster technicians, ward sisters and a massage staff they returned in 1918 and forthwith established a unit at Christchurch. Renfrew White was quickly appointed to the staff of the Dunedin Hospital as clinical teacher and lecturer in orthopaedic surgery, and he carried out these duties until his retirement in 1949. His influence upon successive generations of students, with the stimulus of his incisive teaching which made them think for themselves, has been one of the greatest contributions towards the development of orthopaedics. He will be remembered also for his masterly technique, his writings, and his insistence on the cultural education of students. In 1920 two more hospitals were opened at Trentham and Rotorua for the treatment and rehabilitation of returned servicemen. At the King George V Hospital at Rotorua, \V. S. \Vallis was appointed superintendent and orthopaedic surgeon; from what was at first a purely military orthopaedic establishment he made an important centre of treatment of civilian orthopaedic cases and finally a general hospital for the district. The original military orthopaedic unit stood in the grounds of the Christchurch Public Hospital which later took it over and developed an orthopaedic department under the guidance of Leslie Will, who arrived back from a period of training in England a year or two later. From these early beginnings we may pass to the” middle period” marked by the arrival of Alexander Gillies in \Vellington in 1929. Like the original six, he had trained in England and had also spent some years in the United States of America. The influence of Hugh Owen Thomas and Robert Jones was thus reinforced. Gillies has been responsible for the guidance and development of the New Zealand Crippled Children’s Society, and to him must be attributed the development of travelling clinics for the early detection of orthopaedic