Occupational Therapy Training School

At the outbreak of the Second World War there were three qualified occupational therapists in Australia. A committee under the chairmanship of Professor Dawson was appointed to arrange the first course of training which commenced in 1940 with two students, and in 1941 at the request of the Hospitals Commission, the Australian Physiotherapy Association agreed to take over the training of occupational therapists. A decision of the Adjutant General of the Australian Military Forces to appoint only qualified occupational therapists to positions in military hospitals led to the Army approaching the Physiotherapy Association in 1941 to ask how many occupational therapists it could supply and how soon. It was at this stage that the Physiotherapy Association decided to establish a School of Occupational Therapy under a qualified director.

In January 1942, Miss Sylvia Docker, a qualified physiotherapist holding an English Diploma of Occupational Therapy, took up appointment as Director. The Occupational Therapy Training School opened in February 1942, in an old factory building in 539 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, with twenty students.

The Australian Association of Occupational Therapists, formed in 1947, ultimately became responsible for the training of occupational therapists. In April 1963, the General Secretary, Susan A Crofts wrote to the University of NSW asking for the inclusion of occupational therapy training into the University with an appropriate university award. In July 1963 the Acting Vice Chancellor was not prepared to recommend the establishment of a course for occupational therapists but recognising the need for more therapists it would generally sponsor an appropriate teaching program in one of its teaching hospitals. This advice was in line with that sent to the department of health in regard to the training of physiotherapists.

In September 1968, the NSW Government announced that it proposed to establish an Advanced Education Board to co ordinate and develop advanced education in NSW outside the universities. The Higher Education Act was passed on 9th April 1969. From this a College of Advanced Education in Paramedical Studies was established, which was formally gazetted on the 1st July 1973 as the NSW College of Paramedical Studies. From the 1st of July 1973, the school of occupational therapy became part of the NSW College of Paramedical Studies. On 6th June 1975, the College was renamed the Cumberland College of Health Sciences.