Sitting in a museum in Mount Isa, in regional north-west Queensland, are hundreds of pieces of historical medical equipment.
The Beth Anderson museum is attached to Mount Isa's historic Underground Hospital, which was built during World War II as a backup in case the main hospital was bombed.
At some point in the museum's 20-year history an inventory was done, but in the years since the numbers attached to items have either been lost or no longer correspond to the list.
This has prompted volunteer coordinator Erica Shaw to try and identify, organise and label the medical equipment in the museum.
It has turned into a mammoth effort, and the museum's volunteer staff is seeking help from around Australia.
Starting from scratch
Ms Shaw said she had started to go through every item individually.
"We need to go through every single item that we have here, identify it on our list, allocate the correct number to it and allocate a number to the items that don't have numbers, or don't appear on the list," she said.
"I started with the obvious things and the things on the list that I could identify because they have a label on it, or something that gave me a clue.
"I haven't been able to work out what [some of the items are], or what it is on the list."
Calling in the experts
Ms Shaw has put out a call on social media for medical experts of all stripes to help.
"I'm asking if there are any doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, pathologists — anybody who might be able to help me work out what some of these items are," Ms Shaw said.
"I'm about three quarters of the way through the list, so I'm quite pleased with that, but we have a lot more to go."
Ms Shaw also hopes someone will help date the items.
"Ideally it would be best if we knew exactly when they were used, so we know if we're dealing with something that is 100 years old or something that's maybe five years old," she said.
"Also, you know, if the items are rare … or there's not many of them in existence."
If you think you can help, email Ms Shaw at info@undergroundhospital.com.
