A History of Australia’s Early Cosmopolitan Naturopathic Osteopathy

Revealing the forgotten ideas and philosophy behind early naturopathic osteopathy, Shirley Murray Strachan presents a reoriented historical view of Thomas Ambrose Bowen and his work, breaking from the prevailing twentieth-century legitimation narrative of mainstream chiropractic and osteopathy and exploring the contributions and practices of Australia’s early cosmopolitan naturopathic osteopathy pioneers FG Roberts and Maurice Blackmore.

Viewing Bowen’s practice and symbolism through a historical lens, the book examines the forgotten world of early cosmopolitan Australian osteopathy, debunking popular posthumous commercialised claims about Bowen’s work and asserts the importance of traditional approaches in naturopathic osteopathy. Though an interrogation of conflicting origin stories and myths about Bowen’s work, it highlights the important contributions of naturopathic pioneers FG Roberts and Maurice Blackmore. The background narrative is the struggle of mainstream chiropractic and osteopathy seeking professional recognition and forged from in-fighting between overseas and Australian chiropractic and osteopathic political interests. Counterposed is the posthumous popular interpretations that orphaned Bowen’s work from its wellsprings in naturopathic osteopathy.

This is an accessible book for historians and practitioners of early osteopathy, chiropractic and naturopathy, especially to the large, international community of accredited Bowen therapists.