Safely Delivered? Insights into Late Nineteenth-Century Australian Maternity Care from Coronial Investigations into Maternal Deaths

This chapter focuses on the colony of Victoria in Australia with a view to examining the reality of birth for women in the nineteenth-century Australia. It begins by introducing the coronial investigation process and explaining how this research in maternity and gynaecological care proceeded. The limitations of coronial investigations as primary sources are then discussed for two reasons: they impact on how the cases can be analysed and are likely to apply in other colonial jurisdictions. Using case reports, the chapter draws out the nature of birth care in this era: who was attending at maternity bedsides and what sort of circumstances and pregnancy complications those attendants faced. It then considers a complex aspect of these cases: statements made to coronial courts about the use of violence in labour. Lastly, the outcomes of coronial investigations are discussed.