POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Wash your hands' poster

Object No. 2002/101/3

For more than a century posters have given visual expression to the reach of public health. Appropriating the techniques of consumer culture, their messages have advertised everything from hand-washing to hair-nets, from vaccination to X-rays. Produced by government departments and community organisations, posters have had a role in combating infectious disease, drugs, and poor nutrition, and in promoting healthy habits, workplace safety, and sexual health. The 'Wash your hands' poster is one of a collection of 17 Australian health and safety posters that have survived from the 1950s. In their range they cover many of the public health issues that concerned government authorities at that time. One of these issues was cleanliness. The mid-20th century was a time when personal and civic cleanliness was stressed as a means of combatting disease, both because dirt itself harboured germs and because filth and litter attracted vermin - such as rats and flies - that were branded as disease-carriers. This small collection of posters illustrates the serendipitous way in which important material sometimes finds its way into museum collections. They were found by the vendor when assisting a friend to go through his late mother's possessions. Leftovers from the days when the woman had been a scripture teacher, the backs of unused posters like these had served as classroom teaching aids on which she wrote her lessons. Recognising their historic and aesthetic value the vendor saved them and eventually offered them to the Powerhouse Museum.