Chiropractic in Australia: the first forty years (1905-1945)

The history of chiropractic in Australia is traced from the first grateful patient who also attended a course of instruction at the Palmer School and Infirmary of Chiropractic under D.D. Palmer and B.J. Palmer and brought chiropractic to Australia. The influence of Henry Otterholt--a U.S.-born Palmer graduate who was recruited by an untrained manipulator to take over his practice in order to study chiropractic at Palmer--on the early development of chiropractic in Australia and New Zealand is noted. He actively recruited students to the Palmer school, who upon graduation not only spread chiropractic in New Zealand, but also in the various states of Australia. The first twenty years saw the establishment of chiropractic practices in the capital cities of most states, but it would take more years before chiropractic was established in the capital cities. By this time country circuits had been established to serve patients in provincial centers. The advent of World War II brought further development to a standstill. This early period saw the emergence of the first group of what is considered today as the second stream in chiropractic in Australia, practitioners who would later be registered as chiropractors in the various Australian jurisdictions under grandfather clauses.