About this story quilt

This handmade artwork, created between 2020 and 2025, is donated in perpetuity to King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) and its community. As a story quilt, it records the past and situates itself in the present.

The quilt makers are Lorili Jacobs, Marjolijn Godrich, Rae Roberts, Marilyn Scott, Janine Keefe, Dianne Nelson, Margaret Macintyre and Vicki Zorrino. Judy Fewings quilted unique patterns for each block. KEMH Alumni engaged Nick Towie from Art Framers Claremont to create the oak surround and art glass protecting the quilt. KEMH Executive proudly supports the artwork and encourages more contributions for the online stories.

What is a story quilt?

A story quilt is an artwork used to tell stories to children or to leave a legacy for future generations. The quilts can use pictures, sound, scents and textures to tell stories. They are usually made from cloth and are created to describe a moment, an event, a feeling or a place. Sometimes the cloth used has special significance or special words are embroidered or printed on cloth. Some quilt patterns are symbolic.

Quilting can be defined as the stitching together of layers of padding and fabric, which dates back as far as 3400BC. Quilting was originally a practical technique to provide physical protection and insulation. The Victoria and Albert Museum has early examples in its collection from Europe, India and the Far East. The word quilt is linked to the Latin word culcita, meaning a bolster or cushion.

Textured and fragrant inserts or extrusions on the quilt are sometimes added to increase its relevance to all ages and abilities. In the electronic age, tiny recordable “buttons” can be inserted inside or next to the quilt if this is helpful to the story. Digital QR codes can be created to use with smartphones to access more information about the quilt.

There are four basic quilting techniques: piecing, appliqué, paper piecing and English paper piecing. In the KEMH quilt, we have used piecing and appliqué. Piecing has fabric blocks sewn together into rows and columns to create a panel or whole quilt. Applique allowed us to use several irregular shapes in each block or panel as required. Paper piecing (stitch-in-the-ditch for each seam) and English paper piecing techniques, which use templates to create patterns and shapes, did not suit the quilt’s purpose.

Please do not hesitate to contact the quilt makers, via Lorili.Jacobs@gmail.com if you find factual errors or you wish to tell us your KEMH story.

 

About panel 1

A newborn baby (at full-term or pre-term) symbolises innocence and purity, while also representing something new and often challenging. This photo of a local baby was printed on fabric and machine appliquéd onto the quilt.

More than 300,000 Western Australians have been born at King Edward Memorial Hospital since it opened in 1916.

The hospital began operations inside the former Government Industrial School for Boys, a limestone building at the western end of Barker Road, Subiaco. There were 20 beds. In 1927, the first set of surviving triplets was born at the hospital along with six sets of twins. In the same year, 28 premature babies were treated.

Since 1974, KEMH has coordinated pregnant women and premature infant transport, by road and air, throughout the huge state of Western Australia in conjunction with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and St John Ambulance. Every year, the Newborn Emergency Transport Service (NETS  WA) oversees the transfer of about 1000 babies requiring intensive care at KEMH or Perth Children’s Hospital.

In 1992, the midwifery-based Family Birth Centre building opened next to the hospital, offering women with low-risk pregnancies birth choices, providing antenatal and postnatal care in a home-like setting with co-location on the grounds of a tertiary hospital in case of emergency.

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About panels 2 and 3

Edith Cowan (pictured left) represents the many prominent women of her time, including Mary Molloy and Deborah Hackett, who campaigned continuously from 1909 for a dedicated hospital, culminating in the “birth” of KEMH in 1916. More than 300 babies were born in the hospital’s first year of operation. In 2020, more than 6,000 babies were safely welcomed into the world and the hospital cared for 5,000 women with gynaecological conditions. The oval shape appliqué is one of the KEMH 100th anniversary symbols.

In the centre is the front cover of King Eddies, the book published in 2016 by KEMH Alumni to commemorate the hospital’s 100th anniversary. The stork sculpture by Edward Kohler and the blue, green and yellow Egyptian lotus tiles at the top have characterised the art deco building entrance on Bagot Road since 1939 when the hospital expanded. KEMH Alumni was born in 2011, during the hospital’s 95th year, as an independent, non-profit incorporated association founded on the belief that current and former staff members, students, graduates and volunteers have valuable experience to offer in mentoring and retaining new staff. Together with providing a forum for education, fellowship and the exchange of ideas, members use social, educational and fundraising events to maintain connection with the hospital because its unique character touches the hearts of all, with many staff being reluctant to retire.

King Edward VII (pictured right) is the eldest child of Queen Victoria, after whom KEMH was named.

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About panel 4

This pregnant woman demonstrates the less constrained society of 2025 that does not expect women to “cover up” during their pregnancy. Modern families indulge in partly nude photo shoots during pregnancy and afterwards, featuring mother, father, family and baby.

The Whole Nine Months program began in 2014 when the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance and the Western Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Initiative came together to launch a public health and social media resource. The project is a joint collaboration between Women and Newborn Health Service, Women’s and Infants Research Foundation, the University of Western Australia, the KEMH Statewide Obstetric Support Unit, Australian Medical Association and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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About panel 5

The breastfeeding sketches demonstrate nourishment and bonding with your baby, whether single, twins, triplets or more. Mother and baby may take a little time to get breastfeeding happening. Never feel guilty. Give breastfeeding your best shot. Get expert help. Make informed decisions that work for you. Sometimes breastfeeding just does not work out.

The Breastfeeding Centre of WA is a world-leading research centre next to the hospital on Bagot Road. Appointments with lactation specialists are available to mothers and babies who attend the hospital. The centre also offers a statewide phone counselling service to women experiencing breastfeeding problems and to health professionals such as midwives, nurses, doctors and lactation consultants advising breastfeeding women.

Since 2006, KEMH has been home to Australia’s first donor human milk bank – the Perron Rotary Express PREM Milk Bank – which provides more than 1000 litres of breast milk each year to premature and unwell babies.

The rainbow babies (bottom right) symbolise healthy children born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth or neonatal death because rainbows often appear after stormy turbulent times.

The rainbow is also the symbol for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) social movement. KEMH is proud to care for eligible women and babies from all races, nationality, culture, gender identity and sexual orientation.

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About panel 6

The nurse and doctor dressed in traditional uniform have been made using hand-stitched felt applique, a stitching technique quite common during mid 20th century. The gender stereotypes in which a female nurse wears a ‘Nightingale’ veil, starched apron and red cape and a male doctor wears a white coat over street clothes are now gone forever.

Over the years, midwives have developed enormous skills while always being caring, often with a good sense of fun. When the quilt makers asked staff to recall their early days at KEMH, we were told about a New Year’s Eve on the antenatal ward many years ago. When nobody was in labour, enterprising midwives took pages from the firemen’s pinup calendar and put them beside each sleeping mother-to-be. The ensuing hilarity on New Year’s Day was cut short when the charge sister arrived and removed them all.

In 1949, KEMH Matron Agnes Walsh was awarded an OBE and in 1981, Matron Rosalind Denny received an AM. In 1988, Dr Stanley Reid, Obstetrician, Medical Director and Head of Ultrasound Department, was awarded an AM.

By 2021, five more staff at KEMH had been recognised for their service in the Australia Day Honours, including Professor Jack Goldblatt AM, Genetic Services WA; Associate Professor Jon Rampono AM, Director of Psychiatry; Professor John Newnham AM, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist and Chief Scientific Director of Women’s and Infant’s Research Foundation; Professor Karen Simmer AO, Medical Director Neonatal Clinical Care Unit and Professor Jan Dickinson AM, Head of Maternal Fetal Medicine Service.

The smooth operation of a hospital does not happen without a huge variety of support staff, including, but not limited to, administration, engineers, cleaners, kitchens, orderlies, patient care attendants and volunteers. The quiltmakers acknowledge and applaud you.

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About panel 7

This digital print of a mother with “empty arms” and a silhouette baby represents the difficult history of forced adoption, which operated in Australia from 1940s to 1980s. Babies born to single mothers at KEMH and elsewhere were often taken - not given up - for adoption by infertile married couples. At birth, sheets and pillows were used to obstruct the mother’s view of her newborn and the baby was whisked away to a separate nursery. Some mothers were given strong sedative medications and/or stilboestrol, a cancer-causing drug, that suppressed lactation. Very few of these women caught even a glimpse of their baby despite desperate pleas to be allowed access. This “clean break” theory was practised in many hospitals throughout Australia at that time.

Newborns were exposed to the pre-verbal trauma of being abruptly and permanently removed from their mother; away from their world of her heartbeat, touch, sound of her voice, smell and warmth of her body. These adopted newborns were denied their right to breastfeed and did not receive the colostrum that nature provides for added immune protection. Many such babies refused to feed and struggled to gain weight, ending up in the special care nursery.

During the late 1970s, shifting attitudes on pre-marital sexuality, invention of the contraceptive pill, and the introduction of government financial support for single mothers brought an end to forced adoption.

On 23 March 2013, the Federal Government apologised and acknowledged that forced adoption practices are illegal and, that at birth, the mother is the legal guardian, therefore at no point should access to her baby have been denied. In 2022, KEMH formally acknowledged its role in the forced adoption era and began the process of writing formal apologies to those harmed by the policy.

Read more about ARMS WA memorial (external site)

Read more from the WA government’s 2024 report “Broken Bonds, Fractured Lives.” (PDF)

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About panel 8

The x-ray image of twins c1973 was supplied by Norma King, a former radiographer at KEMH and volunteer coordinator at the WA Medical Museum. From the 1920s, x-ray imaging during pregnancy was used to determine multiple birth, diagnose some fetal abnormalities, determine breech or cephalic presentation, or measure the pelvis prior to labour when the baby felt large. X-rays of a pregnant abdomen were mainly done with the mother laying on her back on top of a 17” x 14” film inside a thin metal cassette. The film was later developed in a darkroom just like camera film. By the late 1970s, it had been discovered that x-rays during pregnancy could be harmful to the fetus. Fortunately, around that time, ultrasound imaging using non-harmful high frequency sound was developed. From the 1980s, ultrasound imaging replaced x-rays.

An ultrasound image from the mid-1970s is depicted at right (second image). Dr Stanley Edward Reid AM, then KEMH Medical Administrator and Obstetrician, returned from a conference excited by the possibilities of ultrasound imaging for obstetrics. The top two historical and the lower two contemporary ultrasound scans were supplied by Mrs Rae Roberts, the first ultra sonographer in WA. She was at KEMH for 40+ years and taught obstetric ultrasound to doctors, nurses and allied health professionals from the Kimberley to the far south and out to the eastern desert. The accuracy and quality of ultrasound results is very dependent on the skill, training and expertise of the operator.

A sagittal ultrasound image of a fetus in the 1980s is also depicted (right, third image).

Ongoing technological advances led to the invention of 3D ultrasound imaging (depicted at bottom) showing us much more recognisable fetal structures. High-quality ultrasound imaging during pregnancy gives expectant parents peace of mind, helps them prepare to raise a child if physical problems are detected, and guides clinicians when invasive pregnancy testing is required. We now know there is scientific evidence that after the diagnostic ultrasound has answered all medical questions, the 4-D ultrasound parent movie video genuinely deepens parental bonding, particularly for fathers.

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About panel 9

The King Edward Memorial Rose Garden is unique in its concept. Up until the late 1980s remembering little lives lost by miscarriage or stillbirth was not something encouraged in Australian culture. However, KEMH Chaplain Robert Anderson recognised the real grief that parents suffered and encouraged this to be acknowledged. He brought together like-minded health professionals and charitable organisations to begin work on a garden of remembrance. The perinatal pathology department continues to offer mementos to bereaved parents, in the form of photographs, handprints and footprints. A monthly cremation service is available for stillborn babies of less than 28 weeks gestation and there is a non-religious ceremony for the collective Interment of Ashes for those who wish to take part. When the hospital is relocated, the Department of Health has pledged to preserve this garden and adjacent heritage-listed Harvey House, named after the first KEMH Matron, Eleanor Harvey.

The hand-embroidered roses in this panel symbolise the abundant variety of roses planted between the curved limestone walls of the garden, which can be accessed from Barker Road near the corner of Railway Road. The printed words are based on the garden plaque text explaining the ashes of babies stillborn before 28 weeks are scattered within.

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About panels 10 and 11

The Women and Newborn Health Service logo (top left) is one of several used during the life of the hospital.

In the illustration underneath, a nurse is depicted circa 1970s tending babies in open plastic cribs like those used in the KEMH Special Care Nursery when it was located above the Bagot Road entrance. Today, premature babies who cannot maintain body heat are nursed in completely enclosed perspex cribs called isolettes. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is the largest in the southern hemisphere, encompassing several purpose-built areas at KEMH in Subiaco, with a smaller unit at Perth Children’s Hospital in Nedlands.

The photo reproduced on fabric (centre) is Harvey House, where the hospital first began in 1916 in what was previously an industrial boys school. Located next to the Memorial Rose Garden, on Barker Road, Harvey House is now home to the WA Medical Museum.

KEMH is now part of North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) whose logo is reproduced here (top right) to remind us that a hospital does not stand alone in providing government-funded health services for women, children and families. NMHS comprises tertiary, specialist and generalist hospitals, including Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Osborne Park Hospital, Graylands Hospital, King Edward Memorial Hospital, and a public private partnership arrangement with Joondalup Health Campus.

The Raine Study logos (bottom right) have evolved in the same way that research has moved forward. Beginning in 1989, the West Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study (now known as the Raine Study) was made possible through the generosity of Mary Raine, a Western Australian of humble beginnings who was born in London in 1877. The study began after a fortuitous meeting between John Newnham, a young obstetrician with a passion for research, and the Raine Foundation accountant. A Raine Foundation grant, and then a government grant, enabled the development of a long-term cohort to study the role of early life events on human health throughout life, and to investigate the effect (if any) of frequent ultrasounds during pregnancy.

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About panel 12

Exciting medical research occurs within all major departments at KEMH, including midwifery, gynaecology, allied health, medical imaging, physiotherapy, haematology, pathology and many others. This panel focuses on the strong ties between Women & Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) at KEMH and the University of Western Australia’s large animal facility. With the backing of the hospital, university and the Channel 7 Telethon Trust, WIRF (formerly King Edward Memorial Hospital Research Foundation) opened its doors in December 1975.

The sheep and dolphins on this panel, made of tactile soft touch fabric, recognise important WIRF research.

In 1987, the perinatal sheep program began to use sheep as a model for human pregnancy and the newborn to enable better understanding of human placental development. WIRF founder Professor John Newnham and KEMH sonographer in charge Rae Roberts tested doppler ultrasound techniques by measuring the blood flow in sheep placenta. Today, ultrasound imaging and doppler investigation of the human placenta is integral to the obstetric management of all pregnancies.

Newnham and Roberts also collaborated with Murdoch University veterinary researchers at Atlantis Marine Park in 1989 to use serial ultrasound scans to measure fetal growth rate in bottlenose dolphins.

In 2017, a collaborative WIRF research project successfully used an artificial womb to incubate healthy baby lambs for a period of one week. Born of a vision to understand and improve complex health problems faced by mothers, babies and women, WIRF is now an internationally recognised medical research institute.

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About panel 13

The appliqué of a football shape featuring red blood cells (top left) reminds us of one of the hospital’s lesser-known areas – the haematology and transfusion services.

The yellow image of laboratory equipment (bottom left) indicates the huge variety of tests done for biochemistry, haematology (including transfusion medicine), microbiology, immunology and genomics by the pathology department (PathWest) at KEMH.

The heart-shaped appliqué (top right) features the uterus and fallopian tubes next to the ovaries, which are walnut size when dormant. This anatomy is central to women’s health – physical, mental and hormonal.

The black and white strip of laboratory results (bottom right) shows the outcome of amniocentesis, where fluid is taken from around the fetus in utero. Cells in amniotic fluid are tested for common chromosomal abnormalities by counting the number of each chromosome present in a sample of cells in a process known as fluorescence in-situ hybridisation (FISH). Amniocentesis is usually used when the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) identifies increased risk of a fetus with chromosomal abnormality.

The tadpole shape of sperm surrounding an egg before fertilisation (centre) reminds us how pregnancy occurs. Women in their 20s have a 25-30 percent chance of getting pregnant naturally each month. After the age 40, the chances of natural pregnancy drop to 5 percent each month. At age 40, in-vitro fertilisaation (IVF) has about an 11 percent success rate. The first live birth as a result of IVF was in July 1978 in Manchester, England. There are numerous private IVF clinics in WA. At KEMH, the Reproductive Medicine Clinic provides the only publicly funded fertility clinic in the state.

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About panel 16

This parenting poem was much loved by the volunteers creating this quilt as a wonderful example of how to slow down and enjoy each moment with your baby – not an easy thing to do in today’s fast-paced world. The joy of parenthood seems rekindled in the 21st century perhaps because young couples who are geographically separated from their own parents seek to maintain connection via social media, digital photos and video calls when they start their own family.

Established in 1992, the Family Birth Centre (FBC) is the State’s first home-like maternity care facility. Antenatal and labour care is provided to pregnant women and their birth partner by a midwife with oversight by medical clinicians. Women with low-risk pregnancies attend antenatal appointments at FBC, give birth to their baby in a home-like environment and return home within four hours, knowing they have five days of in-home postnatal care from the visiting midwife.

It is not just on 12 May each year (International Midwifery Day) that we appreciate the exceptional standard of care given to women by the nurses and midwives at KEMH. Their commitment to continuity of care through Midwifery Group Practice teams and Community Midwifery Program empowers women and their partners throughout pregnancy and into early parenthood.

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About panels 14, 15, 18 and 19

The outline of our State, with its golden centre and surrounding emblems, indicates the challenges in providing healthcare to women and infants living across an area of more than 2.5 million square kilometres. Western Australia is 12 times larger than the United Kingdom and four times larger than the American state of Texas. Most of our diverse population (80 percent) lives in the capital city of Perth but people of all nations are scattered throughout the sparsely populated north and east. From humble beginnings in 1916, KEMH has grown to be the single centre of excellence serving this enormous area. In 2025, KEMH is part of Women and Newborn Health Service (WNHS), and the hospital strives to provide a culturally safe environment for all attending to receive obstetric and gynaecological healthcare.

Prior to colonisation, Aboriginal women gave birth on the same land as their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Birthing was seen as the collective responsibility of community, with grandmothers and aunties playing significant midwifery roles. Pregnancy, birthing and motherhood continue to be seen as sacred and spiritual with the potential for healing. The rituals, ceremonies and practices related to birthing can vary depending on geographic location and language group. One Aboriginal midwife told us what she observed while working at KEMH in 1980s: I noticed how Aboriginal women were calmer with their newborn babies. Where possible they slept with their babies as opposed to leaving them in the nursery and skin on skin was very important to them.

The square appliqué (bottom right) shows an artwork commissioned by WNHS entitled ‘A Unified Approach’. The paths represent women’s journeys to and from WNHS. The circles represent services at WNHS. The turtles represent good health and wellbeing. The leaves represent medicine.

There are more than 200 distinct Aboriginal language groups in WA, speaking about 700 dialects. A dialect is a particular variety or branch of a specific language. For example, there are 14 clan or language groups in Noongar Boodja (country) in the South West, each with differences and similarities in the collective Noongar language. Today, when written, there are different spellings for many words with same meaning.

The circular appliqué (top left) shows a world surrounded by people of many nationalities. Multicultural Australia is often seen in the colourful and diverse attire worn by women attending KEMH.

Based at KEMH, the Women’s Health Clinical Support Programs (WHCSP) provides culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) information to the public and health professionals about perinatal and infant mental and physical health; family and domestic violence in the community, including gender-based violence; and genital mutilation/cutting. WHCSP also manages service agreements for Perth and regional arms of the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC).

The KEMH Statewide Obstetric Support Unit (SOSU) provided safe, responsive and culturally sensitive care that nurtured, developed and supported the maternal and newborn workforce and community of WA.

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About panel 17

These fabric pieces are machine patchworked together in traditional quilting style. The fabrics were found online and included on the quilt to demonstrate digital printing technology in use around 2020.

The word cloud (top) represents terminology used during pregnancy, labour and birth. The white dove on blue background (centre) symbolises the Mother Baby Unit for post-natal depression. KEMH’s forward-thinking Director of Psychiatry, Dr Jon Rampono, campaigned for its location at a women’s hospital, not a psychiatric facility. Perinatal mental health is becoming better understood. It is very clear from research that the mental health of both mother and father is strongly associated with developmental and educational outcomes for their child.

The blue and pink ribbon (left) symbolises infertility awareness, infant loss and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Remembrance Day for Pregnancy and Infant Loss is held on 15 October each year in many parts of the world.

The teal ribbon (right) symbolises ovarian cancer awareness to honour women and ensure more people learn about the risks and early symptoms of this silent and dangerous disease. Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day is 26 February.

The quiltmakers commissioned a European fabric-making website to print several logos and photos for this quilt, including the Gynaecological Awareness Information Network logo seen here (bottom). GAIN is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers who dedicate their time to creating a world where every woman has the opportunity, knowledge, confidence and support to work towards optimal gynaecological and sexual health.

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About panel 20

At KEMH, the highly skilled gynaecology staff of nurses, gynaecological oncologists, allied health professionals, support and administrative staff provide services to more than 5000 women every year in specialties such as colposcopy, menopause, fertility, pelvic pain, sexual health, urology, contraception, physiotherapy, bladder training, vulval health and gynaecological oncology.

The images at top left and right are of a “Copper 7” intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) to prevent pregnancy, while the Foley catheter (top centre) is used for urodynamic bladder studies to investigate the causes of bladder incontinence.

The red blood cells (centre) remind us that life is blood and blood tests can diagnose many illnesses. In the middle the stork carrying a baby (depicted on the art deco tile above the hospital entrance) reminds us that for more than 100 years KEMH has been Western Australia’s premier public hospital for women and newborns.

The uterus and ovaries (right) depict the origin of life for gynaecology and obstetrics, while the row of vaginal speculums (bottom) are used to visualise internal anatomy.

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