The Moonta Medical display features countless implements used by Moonta doctors at various times in the district’s history as well as an extensive collection of medicine bottles and containers with labels attesting to a range of weird and wonderful remedies for a host of ailments. The display was partly funded through the SA175 grant fund, administered by History SA.
Specific display sections focus on the Moonta Jubilee Hospital, chemists who worked in the town, and there is a re-created chemist cabinet that has been custom-built to house a pharmacy collection that was purchased by the Centre for inclusion in the display. There is a section on home remedies, the work of local dentists and a storyboard about common epidemics and accidents that affected the population of Moonta at various times.
Liz Coole, National Trust Moonta branch vice-chairperson, says that ‘most of the equipment belonged to Doctor Clayton and Doctor Harbison, and the Harbison family donated it’.
A must see for anyone interested in medical history.