School of Occupational Therapy

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.

From Cumberland College of Health Sciences, 1973-1983. A Quest for Change by JA Rodgers