Plague is one of the most deadly diseases to have affected humans over the centuries. To scientists, it is an infection caused by bacterium; to historians its three pandemics are the greatest natural disasters of all time; to artists and writers it symbolises the fragility of human life.

Plague first appeared in Europe in the sixth century during the reign of the Emperor Justinian. This first pandemic lasted for two hundred years. Three centuries later it reappeared in Europe as the ‘Black Death’ – the second pandemic which killed thousands and devastated populations across the continent until the end of the 17th century. In the mid-19th century the third pandemic caused millions of deaths in Asia and spread along Pacific trade routes to Australia. This third pandemic challenged the new science of bacteriology, which at last provided the understanding needed to control plague.

Beautifully depicted with images from our Rare Books collection, this exhibition explores the understandings and impact of plague since the sixth century, through to our contemporary understanding of the disease today.

Exhibition: From May 2009 to February 2010.

Curated by Drs Lise Mellor, Vanessa Witton and Professor Yvonne Cossart. Enquiries: Dr Lise Mellor 9114 1164.

This exhibition celebrated the re-opening of the J T Wilson Museum after its recent refurbishment. The curators and architects have combined forces to provide a striking modern environment for anatomical study which does justice to the collection built up over more than a century by our anatomy staff and students. With the opening of the medical school and the arrival of Professor Anderson Stuart, anatomy took a central place in our medical curriculum. In 1890, James Thomas Wilson was appointed as Foundation Challis Professor of Anatomy. Since Anderson Stuart’s time there have been a series of Professors of Anatomy, each who have made significant contributions to Anatomy within the University and elsewhere. Their biographies and achievements are depicted alongside a photo gallery of the first 60 years of prosectors. Exhibition: From October 1 2008 to end March 2009.

Written by Drs Lise Mellor, Vanessa Witton and Professor Yvonne Cossart. Enquiries: Dr Lise Mellor 9036 3366.

Professor John Smith was Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He was an exceptionally talented amateur photographer and his photographic work has historical significance in terms of the development of the visual arts in Australia. Aside from his service to the University, Professor Smith’s lasting memorial is an extensive collection of historic photographs of the University and Sydney surrounds taken between 1855 and 1880. This exhibition of 20 of his photographs shows his broad reaching interest in photographic technique and subject. Within the University he documented the building of the Great Hall and Main Quadrangle, the first sandstone buildings at Grose Farm. Smith was also a skilled portrait photographer and his work represents family, friends and University associates of the time. His interior family and group portraits also show us something of mid nineteenth century social life and interior architecture. He was equally accomplished as a landscape photographer, evident in his beautiful images of Sydney Harbour, Woolloomooloo, Lane Cove River and the Blue Mountains. Because of the long-timed exposures, typical of photographic technique at that time, Smith himself is present in many of his photographs. For copies of these images or to view the entire John Smith collection, please make your enquiry directly to the University Archives.

This exhibition is part of the Medical Heritage Trail.