How an Anglo-Indian Man Made Australian Physiotherapy Great

Australia was the first country in the world to teach and examine all aspects of physiotherapy: exercise, massage and manipulation, and electrotherapy, in programmes aligned with universities. Early physiotherapists were not nurses, and men were as numerous as women. ‘Massage’ did not fairly describe the practitioners’ real knowledge and skills, and their acquired confidence saw them, decades later, become a founding member of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy and the first to advocate for and achieve autonomous practice. Now many Australian physiotherapists are world-leading researchers. How did this all begin 125 years ago?

Frederick Teepoo Hall arrived in ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ the second largest city in the British Empire and the wealthiest city in the world, in 1889.[i] Born in India the son of an English father and an Indian mother, he had an education based on the English public school tradition. Hall had an impeccable command of English and understood the niceties of society. Working in the subordinate Medical Service, his knowledge spanned chemistry, pharmacology, surgical anatomy with dissection, physiology, and pathology. As a masseur he would establish his reputation and be the most significant contributor to Australia’s professionalisation of physiotherapy and the development of the Australasian Massage Association – the forerunner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. (Fig 1)

Reference from Roger CHEIR, M.D.[iii] Office of the Health Officer, 24 Pergunnahs, Bengal, 13th March 1889.

Mr Teepoo has worked under me from the time he entered the Medical College to about four months ago, … I can recommend him as a qualified and efficient Masseur, who takes great interest in his patients.

At the time Hall arrived in Australia, the country was ‘a paradise of quacks.’[iv] Although medical practitioners began altering medical practice and raising professional competence from the late 1800s, little control was exerted over alternative or unorthodox practitioners. Few effective treatments were available.[v] Practitioners of all persuasions touted their skills and nostrums. Hall’s first newspaper advertisements appeared in February 1890. He soon included testimonials from patients and more importantly, from a medical colleague.

Not only did newspapers carry his advertisements, but they also noted his community contributions. These would proudly reflect his Indian background.[vi] Indians and Australians, all British subjects, then had a strong allegiance to the ‘mother country’. Hall became active too in political matters and had clearly been successful in practice. The tone of his advertising changed: from 1895 onwards, advertisement indicated he only practised on medical referral. (Fig 2) This would be strategically valuable a decade later. Newspaper articles described some of his more important patients.

We are informed that Mr Teepoo Hall, the well-known masseur of Collins Street East, has added yet one more to his list of successful cases. A gentleman, well known to our readers, following the advice of Dr M U O’Sullivan, placed himself in Mr Teepoo Hall’s hands for a time, with the result that he has been cured of a very painful ailment. Mr Hall also holds certificates of skill from Drs Fitzgerald, Evan, Macgibbon, Burton, Davenport, and twenty other well-known metropolitan surgeons.[vii]

Hall became a well-recognised identity in Melbourne. He trained his assistants through a highly valued two year apprenticeship, suing in court a practitioner who falsely claimed he had taught her.[viii] Demonstrating his business acumen, Hall realized the importance of medical connections and with the growing strength and influence of medical practitioners deliberately aligned himself with them.[ix] In 1895 too, Hall, with his wife Winifred, sought a villa of six rooms with stables, in fashionable Clifton Hill or East Melbourne, where they had been guests at Braemar House.[x] He also understood the value of community engagement and networking in society. The late Lord Mayor of London, a recent patient, recommended him. The Weekly Times reported significant local patients: ‘A gradual improvement is taking place in the health of Sir Hartley Williams. … upon the recommendation of Dr. Fitzgerald, his Honour commenced a course of massage treatment, by Mr Teepoo Hall, of Collins Street.’[xi] With increasing recognition, growth of his practice and staff by 1898 he occupied premises in the Queen Victoria building opposite the Melbourne Town Hall. Many testified ‘to the high position Mr Hall has attained as the leading masseur in Melbourne.’[xii]

Another notable change to his practice included the list of Friendly Societies to which he was appointed. Friendly societies were funded by members’ subscriptions. Money from the common fund supported members in meeting the costs of illness, unemployment or funerals for themselves and their families. Many Victorian men belonged to a friendly society and branches (known as lodges) provided fellowship and a sense of brotherhood. In 1913 more than half of working men belonged to a lodge which appointed and paid medical practitioners and masseurs to treat members free of charge. Lodges also established pharmacies to help members pay for medicines.[xiv] Hall’s advertisements often indicated that his female masseuses would treat females, including those in members’ families. Hall progressively gained further status within the friendly society environment. He represented the Collingwood District at a social evening in 1904 given by the Loyal Galatea Lodge, Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows and would become a patron when another new branch of this Order formed in Collingwood in 1907.[xv]

Building close and positive relationships with the most senior and respected medical practitioners in Melbourne would be essential for masseurs and masseuses to gain honorary appointments in the city’s charity hospitals. These appointments provided no income but increased the respect of the community. Melbourne’s charity hospitals treated those who could not afford private treatment or did not belong to a friendly society lodge. Medical practitioners, masseurs and often a dental practitioner undertook honorary appointments in these hospitals devoting some of their time treating patients at no cost. Hall held such appointments at the Melbourne, and Austin Hospitals.[xvi] Masseurs provided additional honorary services to sporting clubs. Hall contributed to the Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and Fitzroy football clubs for many years.[xvii]

Teepoo Hall played another significant role in society as a political activist. An interchange of people through trade, army service and lands grants, emerged during the early colonial days of Australia with India. In 1893 a committee formed in Melbourne expressed concern  at the nuisance caused by ‘a large and undesirable class of persons from the East.’ As secretary, Hall explained they wished to secure legislation to improve the housing and health of ‘Asiatics in Melbourne’ and tighten the control of hawkers’ licences.[xviii] Hall ensured ‘better classes of Indian … Sikhs and Bengalese’ also contributed to this committee.[xix] Hall, able to bridge the white and Indian communities, and respected in both, advised that the Premier agreed to receive a deputation to discuss matters of concern.[xx] The Victorian Legislative Council appointed a Select Committee in 1898 to inform them regarding the planned Victorian Immigration Restriction Bill. Hall provided very detailed, respectful and apparently frank evidence to this Committee proposing an increase in the price of  hawkers’ licences and examination in English to restrict the immigration of many undesirable characters.[xxi]

Although this Bill did not pass, Hall would continue to play a significant role in advocating for the Indians in Australia.[xxii] The newly federated Australia planned to block the immigration of non-white peoples. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 established the White Australia policy. This would exclude some 50,000 people described, as ‘natives of Asia, Africa and the Pacific.’[xxiii] One of the first Acts passed by the new Federal Parliament, it introduced a dictation test in which potential immigrants could be asked to write fifty words in any European language. Hall’s command of English, his charitable and professional work and recognition by respected members of the community, including his sometime patient, Lord Hopetoun, Australia’s first Governor General, gave him the opportunity to negotiate improved conditions for his Indian countrymen.[xxiv]

The Bill finally passed but Indian-born merchant, Khooda Bux, President and Vice-President, Teepoo Hall formed a new branch of the fifty-year strong British Indian Association. They approached Australia’s Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton, for exemption certificates under the Immigration Restriction Act for a small number of Indians to come to Australia to work in key positions.[xxv] Unfair restrictions could be a complete trade ‘boycott of Australia if the Mahamodans pronounced … (a) … Jehad.’[xxvi]

Whilst still representing Indian citizens in Australia, Teepoo Hall continued in his successful professional practice.[xxvii] Since 1900, he had been teaching medical students the importance of physiotherapy practice. Dr John Springthorpe, a medical practitioner , the Dean of Dentistry and lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, may have asked Hall to undertake this role. Photographs of Hall teaching the students were reproduced in a number of publications (Fig 3.)

From physiotherapy’s perspective, the most important aspects of Hall’s life are the roles he played in the initiation and development of the Australasian Massage Association. By 1905 he had become a significant member of Melbourne society and arguably the leading and most respected masseur in Melbourne who practised all the elements of physiotherapy, exercise, massage and manipulation and electrotherapy.[xxix] Hall’s experience in public life combined with his connections through eminent patients and medical practitioners, contributed to his initiative to professionalise physiotherapy. Exposure of physiotherapy and Hall in leading papers would benefit the new association. In February 1905 he arranged a meeting with two other practitioners, Alfred Peters and Heinrich Best, to consider forming a physiotherapy association. In June that year a similar association was proposed in Sydney.[xxx] By December 1905 Hall had garnered significant Australia-wide support and convened a special meeting to form a national association.[xxxi] In March 1906 groups in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide agreed to amalgamate.[xxxii] The new association would be

the recognised association of the profession throughout the Commonwealth. The objects are to establish a system of registration … to establish a uniform system of training and examination, … and to promote the interests of the massage profession in all matters appertaining to its work.[xxxiii]

Dr Springthorpe presided as Chairman and Teepoo Hall as secretary of the provisional committee appointed to frame a constitution.[xxxiv] Hall immediately organised the first of monthly continuing education lectures in Melbourne.[xxxv] The Australasian Massage Association commenced in 1906. Education began in conjunction with the universities in Victoria in 1906 at the University of Melbourne, in New South Wales in 1907 at the University of Sydney and in 1908 at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. The Association developed a national curriculum: the universities taught the biomedical sciences of anatomy, physiology and pathology. Students shared their classes with their medical and dental colleagues. Experienced honorary practitioners taught and supervised clinical learning in the major hospitals of each State. The Association grew rapidly. New association members had to pass strict conditions, as upgrading courses for current practitioners commenced. Within two years all new members had to complete the formal education programme.[xxxvi] The new association sought government recognition through State legislation, and although the First World War delayed progress, by 1922 Victoria became the first State to achieve Registration through an Act of Parliament. Registration then became a legal requirement for practice.

Frederick Teepoo Hall, the first Honorary Secretary of the Association had undertaken the most significant role, recognised by the gift of a gold watch for Hall and a silver tea service for his wife in September 1906.[xxxvii] In preparation for 1907’s Annual General Meeting in Sydney, Hall had written to his former patient, the Marquis of Linlithgow (Lord Hopetoun), previously Victoria’s Governor and the first Governor-General of Australia who agreed to be ‘one of the patrons of the Australasian Massage Association’.[xxxviii] Sadly these correspondents would not live much longer.

In 1907, the Association again recognised Hall for initiating the meeting with state delegates, promoting an Australasian association and ensuing Australia’s education was more comprehensive than any offered elsewhere in the world.[xxxix] An English medical practitioner considered ’Australia was far ahead of the Old Country … and furnished an example that might be followed in England with great advantage.’[xl] Hall achieved his aims to raise the status and standard of physiotherapists. [xli] Dr Colin Mackenzie confirmed ‘the world has little to teach us … the course … will compare with anything in Europe.’[xlii]

Hall continued introducing significant procedures into the association. In 1907 he undertook the first examination held in Tasmania for admission into the Association.[xliii] In early1908 Hall resigned after seven years at the Melbourne Hospital. Perhaps he was already ill; nevertheless, as a member of the Victorian delegation he attended the 1908 Annual General Meeting in Adelaide.[xliv] By September Hall had been ‘overtaken by a very serious illness’ and his friends organised a theatrical performance with many well-known artists for his benefit.[xlv] His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, Sir John Madden and Sir Thomas Bent, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne attended.[xlvi] Fortunately Hall was reportedly in better health and his beneficiary matinee was a success.[xlvii] The Victorian Football League in recognition of his contribution to football contributed to his benefit fund too.[xlviii]

Springthorpe in his presidential address at the Victorian Annual General Meeting of the Australasian Massage Association early in 1909 regretted Hall’s continuing illness. Springthorpe said, ‘the Association owes more to Mr Hall than to any other man in Australia.’[xlix] Hall’s death, at age fifty years, was announced on 14 May 1909.[l] The Collingwood district branch of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows invited members to follow ‘the remains of our brother Frederick Teepoo Hall, Past Provincial Grand Master, to the place of internment’.[li] The Association recorded an obituary for Teepoo Hall,

who, amidst great difficulty, and against considerable opposition, took the preliminary steps which led to the inception of the AMA’. He was federal and state secretary and worked indefatigably on behalf of the association. …[lii] ‘The honour of originating this association should always be with Mr Teepoo Hall. He worked and slaved here to carry it into effect.’[liii]

Physiotherapists worldwide have benefited from his vision, dedication and achievement against significant barriers, we should remember him.

References:

[i] Graeme Davison, The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne  (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004). passim

[ii] James Smith, The Cyclopedia of Victoria, vol. 3 (Melbourne: Cyclopedia Company, 1904). 224. University of Melbourne collection.

[iii]  Mercury and Weekly Courier (Vic. : 1878 – 1903)  Thu 6 Mar 1890 4. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58466792

[iv] Philippa Martyr, Paradise of Quacks an Alternative History of Medicine in Australia  (Sydney: Macleay Press, 2002). passim

[v] Tony S Pensabene, The Rise of the Medical Practitioner in Victoria  (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1980). 6-25.

[vi] Fitzroy City Press (Vic. : 1881 – 1920) Fri 11 Nov 1892 2. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65656314

[vii] ‘A COMING STRUGGLE.’, Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 – 1954), 22 June, 1895 p13-14. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170165733

[viii] ‘TASMANIA.’, The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), 31 January, 1907 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5054295

[ix] The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954)  Sat 2 May 1896  .https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/241278861

[x] The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957) Friday 3 May 1895 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65656314 The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946), 16 February 1895, 39 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page11444077

[xi] Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 – 1954) Sat 19 Jun 1897  2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221132573

[xii]  Brighton Southern Cross (Vic. : 1896 – 1918)  2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166118962

[xiii] Brighton Southern Cross (Vic. : 1896 – 1918)  Sat 26 Mar 1898  4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/20125963

[xiv] Friendly societies http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00614b.htm

[xv] ‘Mornington Standard.’, Mornington Standard (Vic. : 1889 – 1908), 19 November 1904 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65837948,  The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954)  Thu 24 Oct 1907   3  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243289465

[xvi] The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954) Sat 20 Dec 1902   12 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/187637798

[xvii]  ‘SOUTH MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB.’, Record(Emerald Hill, Vic. : 1881 – 1954), 16 March 1907, 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162256452.  Standard (Port Melbourne, Vic. : 1884 – 1914)  Sat 14 Mar 1908 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/164955997

[xviii] The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954)  Tue 22 Aug 1893   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/193421142

[xix] The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954)  Tue 29 Aug 1893  5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/193418125

[xx]  The Caulfield and Elsternwick Leader (North Brighton, Vic. : 1888 – 1902)

Sat 30 Sep 1893 5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66875620

[xxi] ‘ASIATIC IMMIGRATION.’, The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), 1 September 1898 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192583878

[xxii] Ibid Similar acts deploying the device of a Natal-inspired dictation test were passed in NSW, WA and Tasmania

[xxiii] Margaret  Allen, “Shadow Letters and the ‘Karnana’ Letter: Indians Negotiate the White Australia Policy, 1901-21,” Life Writing 8, no. 2 (2011). Although this Act was modified, it was not rescinded until 1958.

[xxiv] Lord Hopetoun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hope,_1st_Marquess_of_Linlithgow Governor of Victoria 1889–1895, Governor-General of Australia, 1901–1903, Marquis of Linlithgow 1902–1908

[xxv] ‘Immigration Restriction Act.’ Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), 22 December1902 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89512140. Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (Cth) http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-16.html The Act, frequently amended, remained in force until 1958.

[xxvi] Ibid

[xxvii]  The Late Sir Frederick Sargood The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957)  Mon 19 Jan 1903  5

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9827670  Sargood was a member of the Victorian select Committee regarding immigration restriction.

[xxviii] Feature article in ‘Table Talk’ – Massage Class, Melbourne Hospital, 1905, MHM04514. Table Talk was a weekly magazine published from 26 June 1885 until 1939 in Melbourne, Australia.

[xxix] ‘MASSAGE.’ Prahran Chronicle (Vic.: 1894 – 1906; 1914 – 1918), 18 July 1896 3 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165215162

[xxx] ‘The Wasp.’ The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People (Sydney, NSW: 1900 – 1918), 24 June 1905 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114727964

[xxxi] The new Association received attention in the press. ‘AN ASSOCIATION OF MASSEURS.’ The Register 30 December 1905 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55658213

[xxxii] “Australasian Massage Association 30 March Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1906). 7.

[xxxiii] Australian Physiotherapy Association History Collections University of Melbourne Archives APAH2012/16:Box. 1905 The Advertiser (Adelaide) 30 December. 10. Ibid. 7.

[xxxiv] A Masseurs Association.’ The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 – 1931), 30 December 1905 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4994325

[xxxv] “Australasian Massage Association 30 April Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1906). 26.

[xxxvi] Joan M McMeeken, Science in Our Hands : Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne, 1895-2010  (Melbourne: University Of Melbourne, Victoria : Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, 2018).

[xxxvii] “Australasian Massage Association 30 July Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) 30 July(1906). 74-75.”Australasian Massage Association 29 September Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1906). 102.

[xxxviii] ‘NEWS OF THE DAY.’ The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854 – 1954), 20 March 1907 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196166554

[xxxix] ‘NEWS OF THE DAY.’ The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854 – 1954), 19 March 1907 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196151068. “Australasian Massage Association 30 May Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1907). 35.

[xl] “Australasian Massage Association 30 December Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1907). 155.

[xli] “Australasian Massage Association 29 June Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1907). 53-55.

[xlii] “Australasian Massage Association 30 March Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1908). 5.

[xliii] ‘MASSAGE EXAMINATION.’, Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.: 1883 – 1928), 31 January 1907 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151696075

[xliv] ‘AUSTRALASIAN MASSAGE ASSOCIATION.’ The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 – 1931), 6 March 1908 7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5127817 1908 ‘AT THE SIGN.  FOUR O’.’, Critic (Adelaide, SA: 1897-1924), 11 March. 26. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211421054

[xlv] ‘TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1908.’ The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 – 1957), 15 September 1908 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10165345

[xlvi] ‘NEWS OF THE DAY.’ The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854 – 1954), 13 October 1908 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202179168

[xlvii] The Argus 14 October 1908. 9 “Australasian Massage Association 30 October Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1908). 114.

[xlviii] Football Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 – 1918, 1935)   18 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197070559

[xlix] “Australasian Massage Association 30 March Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1909). 2.

[l] ‘Family Notices.’ The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 – 1957), 15 May 1909 13. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10682437

[li] ‘Family Notices.’ The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854 – 1954), 17 May 1909 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196116051

[lii] “Australasian Massage Association 29 May Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1909). 35.

[liii] “Australasian Massage Association 28 February Report,” UNA (Journal of the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association) (1910). 188.