Abstract: This paper describes the emergence of chiropractic education in Australia. Chiropractic clinical practice started in Australia about 20 or so years after DD Palmer first started teaching chiropractic in 1897. This point is used to anchor Palmer’s idea of chiropractic as a teachable construct which has lead to some 50 institutions globally. The establishment of chiropractic in this world region commenced with Palmer graduates in New Zealand then Australia between 1914 and the 1920s. The American-trained Palmer graduates formed the mainstream of the chiropractic profession which remained subluxation-focussed while a variety of self-initiated programs without any trained chiropractors as teachers emerged and eventually dissipated or merged. These programs produced practitioners as osteopaths and naturopaths and then, as government inquiries commenced, chiropractors. The relationship between this stream of self-proclaimed practitioners of various disciplines and the mainstream US-trained chiropractors was strained to say the least. Seen as a feud, it resulted in each forming their own professional associations and then very different education programs. Through mergers these programs continue today as Macquarie University and RMIT University. Two other government programs have emerged, at Murdoch University and Central Queensland University, and a fifth Australian program is establishing itself as a private institution in Adelaide. This college, together with the New Zealand College of Chiropractic, are the only two of the 6 colleges holding true to Palmer’s founding concepts.
Author keywords: Chiropractic; history; Australia; education; accreditation; International College of Chiropractic; ICC; RMIT; PIT; Sydney College; Macquarie University; NZCC; ACC
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