LGH Historical, Visual and Performing Arts Committee

01/08/2026

22/07/2026

Here is another interview with Chris Sayer from City Park Radio's Long Lunch program earlier this month. His guest is retired respiratory physician, Dr Jim Markos, who talks about his recently published book on Dr David Huish, a pioneering thoracic surgeon of Launceston, who left a generous bequest to the LGH in his estate.

This bequest has funded a series of lectures at the LGH featuring world class medical speakers. One guest speaker was Fiona Wood who spoke about her ground breaking work in burns .
The book is available to buy in person from the Clifford Craig Foundation at the NICS (Frankland St) or online on their website.

13/07/2026

Here is the audio of a recent interview between City Park Radio's Chris Sayer and the chairman of the committee, retired RN Deanna Ellis as part of CPR's Long Lunch Programme.
She and Chris talk about the origins of the Committee and how it came to expand to include Art and Music.
They also chat about the Committee's main achievement: an enviable publication list of twenty books (with 5 more in preparation) that record the history of medicine in Launceston and celebrate the many local characters involved in delivering health care to our community.
Deanna also spoke about a book that she herself researched and prepared about some of the RNs who trained at the LGH, who went to war during WWI and WWII.
The interview finished with Deanna inviting people to visit the Artium (in the NICS building on Frankland St) to view the art on display and to keep an ear open in our hospital corridors for one of the popular 'Music on the Move' sessions.
She also invited people to visit the Clifford Craig website https://cliffordcraig.org.au/shop to check out the books available for purchase and gave details how to contact her or the Secretary if listeners would like to make a donation towards the Music Programme.

07/07/2026

The Sir John Ramsay Memorial Library is proud to unveil a new timeline wall mural celebrating the life and achievements of our namesake, made possible through a generous $5,000 grant from the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation. James Ramsay was Sir John Ramsay's youngest son.
Featuring historical photographs, documents and excerpts from his surgical diaries, the installation traces Ramsay's remarkable career from his early years in Launceston as locum House Surgeon in 1896 through to his death in 1944.
Among the many intriguing items featured is a reproduction of an 1897 X-ray, discovered tucked inside one of Ramsay's handwritten surgical diaries, and an excerpt from his 1906 diary describing what is believed to be an Australian first: the successful resuscitation of a patient by direct cardiac massage. Ramsay's account records the moment when, after repeated manual compressions of the heart, "a feeble beat was felt, irregularly at first, gradually becoming more powerful".
We are also grateful to the Launceston General Hospital Historical Committee for their purchase of a collection of facsimile medals awarded to Sir John Ramsay during his lifetime. Displayed in Ramsay's original surgical instrument cabinet, the medals add a unique and personal dimension, helping to bring his remarkable story to life.
The installation offers staff, students and visitors a unique glimpse into the life of an innovative surgeon whose influence helped shape medicine in Tasmania. We are grateful to the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation for helping us preserve and share this important piece of our history.
"Sir John Ramsay could be regarded as one of the greatest surgeons Australia had produced, and his reputation extended beyond Tasmania. Fifty years' service in the cause of healing was one of which any man might be proud. ... When we remember his work and his life, we may well say there were giants in the land in those days."
— The Mercury, Obituary. 8 February 1944

The John Ramsay Library can now be found on Level 1 in the NICS building (41 Frankland Street, Launceston).

29/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18uWLW8C9n/
(1) Instagram
The Tassie Tenor singing at the LGH

07/06/2026

A small group gathered today at the Dr William Russ Pugh statue at Prince's Square to drink a toast to the esteemed surgeon. Today marked the 179th anniversary of the first general anaesthetic administered in the Southern Hemisphere, which occurred on 7th June 1847 at Launceston's Morton House in Charles Street.
For more information https://litfl.com/william-r-pugh/

05/06/2026

We'd love to see you there!

04/06/2026

LGH Historical Committee and City Park Radio.
On Thursday, 11th June, during the first hour of CPR’s Long Lunch (1200- 1400), the LGH Historical Committee’s Chairman, retired RN, Deanna Ellis, will be interviewed by City Park’s Chris Sayer in the first of a series of monthly interviews about the Committee and its books.
Deanna will talk about the history of the Committee - from its origins in 1988 to its recent expansion to incorporate the Visual and Performing Arts at the LGH.
She will also talk about how she came to write the book “Courage, Calmness and Caring – Nurses trained at the Launceston General Hospital who served in World War I and World War II.” She will also read an excerpt from the book, which is sold by the LGH Historical Committee through the Clifford Craig Foundation website.
According to Deanna, fifty RNs from the LGH (including 34 who also trained there) served in WWI and twenty-six enlisted for service in WWII. Deanna’s book includes the stories of ten of these nurses.
Her book describes the many hardships these nurses endured, but highlights their adaptability and ability to bring some normality to their lives, and most importantly, illustrates their dedication to the soldiers under their care.
If you would like to learn some more about the committee, and hear an excerpt of Deanna’s book, you can tune into CPR at around midday on Thursday 11th June on 103.7 FM and 96.5FM, or hear it live on the website.
If you are mobile, CPR can be found on the Community Radio PLUS App, iHeart radio or Tune In app - or you can ask your smart speaker to play City Park Radio.
If you can’t listen to it live, it will be available as a podcast on the CPR website, and you can listen it at your convenience.
Links below:
CPR podcasts https://cityparkradio.com/our-podcast/
Courage Calmness and Caring available at Clifford Craig Foundation https://cliffordcraig.org.au/shop/p/courage-calmness-and-caring