Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Dr & Mrs John O'Connell, nee Cummins, in their wedding clothes

Dr & Mrs John O'Connell, nee Cummins, in their wedding clothes

1874
Glass photonegative

This is Dr John O’Connell and his wife Theresa, née Cummins, who married at Hill End on 6 June 1874. She was 24 and he was 71 and had just been appointed medical officer at Hill End Hospital, much to the dismay of the Hill End Observer, which decried ‘the notorious habit’ of Dr O’Connell and his lack of ‘a firm, steady hand ... ’

From Ellen Clacy, A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53

It is no joke to get ill at the diggings; doctors make you pay for it. Their fees are—for a consultation, at their own tent, ten shillings; for a visit out, from one to ten pounds, according to time and distance. Many are regular quacks, and these seem to flourish best. [Ellen Clacy, A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53, 1853 Ch. 6]