The early years of the New Zealand Dominion Conference

Having been involved in the organisation of the last two NZSP Conferences, I have some insight into the amount of work that goes in to making them a success.  300 or more delegates and more than 60 independent presenters can be difficult to please, but the feedback on the conference is always positive, and no-one nowadays would imagine a professional body without a formal meeting – even if it is held only once every two years. 

The need for a professional conference was recognised very early by the profession who, as early as 1926, decreed that a biennial conference was necessary to promote the practices of massage.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of bringing a geographically dispersed profession together at a time when transport was still rudimentary, the First Dominion Conference began on Friday 16 September 1927 in the grand surroundings of the Chamber of Commerce Hall in Christchurch, and lasted two days.

The 33 delegates heard presentations on “Goldthwaite’s Postural Exercises” by M. L. Roberts (Head of the Massage School), and a paper on “The Care of the Feet” by Mr C. O. Jorgensen, an English-registered practitioner from Wellington.  There was a “General Discussion on Matters of Interest to the Massage Profession”, and on the next day a visit to the X-ray, Radium and Massage Departments of Christchurch Public Hospital.

In the evening of 16 September, the guests were invited to dinner at the Lilac Lounge (which used to be at 669 Colombo Street), and the members of the Canterbury Masseurs’ Association put on a conference dinner and produced a menu specifically themed around massage and exercise.

Proceedings began with guests “Falling In” (to chairs) with “Most exercises [being] performed sitting”.  The first course was a “Soupcon d’effluerage”, followed by “Iodine Ionisation with fish a la fin”.  Exercises in “toe-half-stretch-standing” position were followed by a “Non Arthritic Joint” of lamb and beef with assorted vitamins (vegetables).  And for dessert, guest were offered “Varied Currents (Static and Ecstatic)”, namely “Faradic pudding”, “Diathermy trifle”, and “Ultra Violet Ray Pie”.  Somewhat alarmingly, guests who had made it through the meal un-phased, were offered a “Cherry Vibrator” as a soporific. 

A similar approach to the conference and the post-conference proceedings was followed two years later in Wellington when the New Zealand Trained Masseurs Association (NZTMA) invited Dr Marshall Macdonald from Dunedin to talk on “Mental Hygiene as Applied to Massage”.  This was the only formal lecture programmed, and there appeared to be a much greater emphasis on the business of the association.  Dinner was held on the evening of Friday 22 February at the Empire Hotel and was followed by a Theatre Party at the Grand Opera House.  The following day, delegates visited the showrooms of Messrs. W. Watson’s Ltd., the suppliers of diathermy equipment and one of the journal’s key contributors for more than 40 years. 

By the time the conference returned to Christchurch in March 1935 (5^th Dominion Conference) the programme had lost its frivolous socialising and become a vehicle for a much more formal affair.  Guests were addressed by the Mayor and the conference was opened by Sir Hugh Acland.  There were lectures by Dr. Baxter, Dr. Will, and Professor Shelley on topics ranging from “The Psychological Aspects of the Work of a Masseur” to the “Treatment of Spinal Injuries”.

Conferences in Auckland spanned the Second World War.  The first one, the 7^th Dominion Conference (3-5 April 1939), ranged over a number of different venues, from Auckland University College, the War Memorial Museum, to the Physiotherapy Department of Auckland Hospital.   The programme was now much more extensive, with papers from Douglas Robb on “What we do when we give treatment”, G. Bremner Abel on “The Value of Clinics in Congested Areas”, and Dr C. Burns on “The Place of Physiotherapy in Medicine”, and at the Auckland Hospital, Miss M. Ward gave a demonstration of “Health Beauty Movement Exercises”.

On its return to Auckland in 1948, the 10^th Dominion Conference illustrated how pressing the problem of anterior poliomyelitis had become in the immediate post-war years.  One whole day was given over to its study, with presentations from Dr. J. Egerton Coughey, Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, and Dr. R. Rowat Brown (who spoke on the physiotherapy aspects of the condition).  Beryl Service presented a paper on the “Orthodox Treatment of Anterior Poliomyelitis”, and a Mr. Bell presented an outline of the controversial treatments of Sister Kenny.  The seriousness of the proceedings was countered on the following day by an organised bus ride to Scenic Drive, morning tea at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Park, and golf with the now President, G. Bremner Abel.

Reflecting on the content and organisation of the first 10 Dominion Conferences, it appears that we were very keen to hear from the medical profession – even to the extent that they told us what physiotherapy meant in their own areas of practice.  It also seems that we struggled to fill a programme with interesting material from within our own ranks. 

In this respect, the Dominion Conferences were very much like the Journal.  Not surprisingly then, the journal and the conference had a symbiotic relationship for many years, with each relying on the other for publicity and content.  It was only in the 1970s with the greater interest in empirical research that the journal stopped publishing conference papers and the conference stopped inviting doctors to explain what physiotherapy was.  

But many facets of those early conferences have remained; not least the fact that it is still biennial.  It is a pity that today’s new graduates may never know what faradism is, nor how to set up a U-V lamp (never mind what toe-half-stretch-standing might look like).  I suppose it’s a sign of our progress as a society that the only thing they would recognise from those early conferences is the cherry vibrator. 

David Nicholls