Fifty Years of Occupational Therapy at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital

Abstract

This paper has been written to acknowledge the significant contribution of the Occupational Therapy Department at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Victoria to the history of Occupational Therapy in Australia. Established in 1941, the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital had one of the first Occupational Therapy Departments in Australia and pioneered many new trends in occupational therapy. Information for this article was collected between 1989 and 1991 by questionnaires sent to former staff members, taped interviews with key people and the recollections of current staff. Together they provide valuable insight into the first fifty years of occupational therapy from the perspective of Australia's veteran community.