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Restoring the Spirit: The Rehabilitation of Disabled Soldiers in Australia after the Great War

2004; Volume: 6; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/40111483

1839-3314

Marina Larsson,

History of Medical Practice

Australia's participation in the Great war (1914-18) came at a significant human cost. Of the 324,000 Australian soldiers who took to the field, 59,342 were killed (18 per cent) and 152,171 wounded (46 per cent).1 This is said to be proportionally the highest rate of battle casualties experienced by any forces of the British Empire in that conflict. The injuries suffered by those wounded during the Great War had an impact on the human body and mind on a scale that had not been experienced before; 'bombs & hand grenades make some ugly wounded' wrote one stretcher bearer.2 By 1920 about one-third of returned soldiers in Australia were receiving a war disability pension.3 Australia had never experienced, nor was entirely prepared for, such a large proportion of its volunteer army to return with 'shattered health' and 'broken bodies'.4 By the early 1920s, a network of repatriation hospitals, rest rooms, nerve homes, curative workshops and sanatoria had been established in each State. At the heart of soldier rehabilitation was the optimistic hope that disabled soldiers would recover their independence and industrial efficiency. In a pamphlet distributed to demobilising men, Senator E. D. Millen, Minister for Repatriation, articulated the key challenge for disabled servicemen: 'Every disabled soldier and sailor should know, that with the exception of very rare cases, he can win his way back to the productive ranks of the community.'5 This paper investigates the rehabilitation of disabled soldiers in Australia after the Great War, and examines how 'restoring the spirit' of these men was central to the rehabilitation process. 'Rehabilitation' is a broad term which referred to the preparation of the disabled soldier for civilian life. Its main goal was to assist the disabled man to find and keep a place in business or industry by teaching him to adapt to his impairments, and by providing him with appropriate and marketable skills.6 While the provision of prostheses and surgical aids certainly comes under the rubric of rehabilitation, this paper approaches rehabilitation as an extended process of personal, social and economic integration.