The local launch event was conducted by well-known and respected local author Carrolline Rhodes and introduced by Helen Kirkpatrick.

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“The book was initially conceived back in 1973, when a small group of parents and health professionals set out to overturn the inhumane and rigid treatment children received in hospitals around the country,” Sylvia said.

“To do this, they formed the Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital (AWCH), and their vision was to put the welfare of the child at the centre of every decision that was made about them.

“AWCH’s goals aimed for parents staying with their sick children in hospital to give them comfort and support, being taken seriously by doctors and nurses, and even being allowed to bring their child’s favourite toy were met with entrenched opposition by medical staff and hospital boards.”

In only a few years, AWCH succeeded in changing hospital policy dramatically and Sylvia Rapley-Anderson, as one of the founder members of AWCH, was a committee member, then its first national Research and Development Officer.

This is her story of those three years that transformed children’s hospitals forever.

A national launch of ‘Where Angels Fear to Tread’ was held on 13 June 2024 at the NSW State Library, and was introduced by Dame Quentin Bryce, who is a long term member of AWCH and currently its patron.

“This inspirational book shows how, over three years in the 1970s, a handful of determined people revolutionised the way hospitals treat the children in their care,” Quentin Bryce wrote.

“It is part of Australia’s history that deserves to be recognised and celebrated.”

By Jen HETHERINGTON