The Historical Archaeology of the St Bathans Cottage Hospital
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MEDICATING MINERS: THE HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ST BATHANS COTTAGE HOSPITAL by Jessie Garland A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Otago 2012 Abstract The following research examines the nature of health care provision in Central Otago during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century through an archaeological and historical investigation of the St Bathans cottage hospital. Material excavated from a cesspit on the hospital site has provided the basis for a detailed investigation of the practice and provision of medical care in the settlement and surrounding district from the early 1890s until the 1920s. The information derived from analysis of the archaeological assemblage has been combined with documentary sources to provide a comprehensive illustration of medical and domestic life at the cottage hospital, with an emphasis on the relationship between the dual function of the building as a domestic residence and medical institution. This has, in turn, been used to explore the way in which the cottage hospital interacted with its wider social and geographical context on a local, national and international scale, including how that context influenced and was adapted to the day to day operation of a small health care institution in rural New Zealand. ii Acknowledgements There are a number of people to whom I owe thanks for their support and assistance during the course of this thesis. First and foremost, my thanks go to my supervisor, Ian Smith, for offering me the opportunity to pursue this in the first place and providing unfailing support and encouragement over the course of its completion. I am incredibly grateful. Numerous students and staff within the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Otago also deserve thanks for their assistance, particularly over the last few months. Special mention must be made of Angela Middleton, for her part in the excavation of the St Bathans material and her help during the process of artefact analysis; Les O’Neil, whose explanation of Photoshop was invaluable towards the end; Justin Maxwell, for his assistance in photographing the artefact assemblage and keeping me sane and Peter Petchey, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of historical archaeology in Otago and willingness to discuss ideas helped bring this thesis together. I am also grateful to my fellow post-graduate students in the department, whose shared experiences and understanding of thesis writing and research made the difficult parts of this work easier to bear. Lastly, my thanks go to my friends and family, who have not only put up with my constant distraction and suffered through countless conversations about my thesis, but have been unconditionally supportive. In particular, I have to thank my mother, Margaret Garland, who read and critiqued everything I threw at her and was always willing to discuss my ideas with me, even when I didn’t know what they were. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... ix Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two: Medical Context ............................................................................................................. 6 Medical Advances of the Nineteenth Century ................................................................................. 6 Alternative Medicine and the Victorian Ideal of Self-Care ........................................................... 11 Medical Care and the Public Health System in New Zealand ....................................................... 14 Chapter Three: Historical Evidence for Health Care in St Bathans .................................................. 19 St Bathans ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Health Concerns ............................................................................................................................... 24 Health Care before the Hospital ...................................................................................................... 28 The Cottage Hospital........................................................................................................................ 38 Chapter Four: Excavation and Analytical Methods ........................................................................... 51 Cottage Hospital Excavation ............................................................................................................ 51 Methods of Artefact Analysis .......................................................................................................... 58 Chapter Five: Results of Artefact Analysis ......................................................................................... 67 Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 67 Glass .................................................................................................................................................. 69 Metal ................................................................................................................................................. 93 Ceramic ........................................................................................................................................... 101 Other Artefacts ............................................................................................................................... 109 Faunal ............................................................................................................................................. 115 Chapter Six: Functional Analysis of Artefacts .................................................................................. 117 Healthcare ...................................................................................................................................... 117 Other ............................................................................................................................................... 125 Dating the Assemblage................................................................................................................... 135 Chapter Seven: Discussion ................................................................................................................. 137 Deposition of the Assemblage ....................................................................................................... 137 iv Life and Medicine at the Cottage Hospital ................................................................................... 138 The Cottage Hospital and the Community ................................................................................... 144 The Wider Context ........................................................................................................................ 145 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 149 References........................................................................................................................................... 151 Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 159 Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 169 v List of Figures Figure 1: The original building of the Cranleigh Village (Cottage) Hospital, taken from McConaghey (1967). ............................................................................................................................ 11 Figure 2: Map of the Maniototo district, including the settlements at Ophir, Omakau, Becks, Gimmerburn, Blackstone Hill, Waipiata, Naseby, Cambrians and St Bathans. ................................ 20 Figure 3: The settlement at St Bathans c. 1870 (Burton Brothers, Photographers) Te Papa Tongarewa C.014328 ............................................................................................................................ 21 Figure 4: A hydraulic elevator in use at St Bathans in the late 1890s (Vulcan Hotel Collection) ... 22 Figure 5: St Bathans in 1877 (William P. Hart, Photographer) Te Papa Tongarewa C.014903 ....... 23 Figure 6: The main street of St Bathans c. 1870. (Burton Brothers, Photographers) Te Papa Tongarewa C.014331) .......................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 7: Members cards for the St Bathans Medical