1920s dental or health van

Edited to include rapid feedback.
I won't hit gems like this very often. It was taken by my father, and was sitting in a box which was mainly 1930s Tooradin (Vic.). The vehicle looks to be 1920s. It is printed on different paper, and could be from earlier schools, but the earliest would be 1931, and the little visible scenery hints at Tooradin flatness and scrub. My mother is voting 1934 on the nurse's hemline. The sign reads 'Education Dept (of Victoria) School Xxx Service'. The indecipherable word could be Dental; it could be Health; it could be something else. Before I share with other groups, I am hoping to obtain a vehicle identification from HCVC. It does appear to have fleet number 8, and the numberplate could be 412-576. In that era, the service could well have been using much-older vehicles.
I suspect now health, not dental. At Tooradin North my father's cousin (a Collins St dentist) made periodic visits, and set up in a local venue, offering free treatment. My mother is also voting health.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

1920s-30s, possibly Tooradin North, school dental or health service. (N Smith, Roderick Smith collection).

Did a quick Trove search defined to 1923-38 Victoria under "School Dental Service" and found:

"...dentists and their attendants travelled from one small country school to the next by means of three dental motor vans, which were permanently equipped as up-to-date dental surgeries..."

Nothing found under "School Health Service"

trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/search?adv=y

Edit to add - A search of the old tender listings may find the Government order for the vans.
I would expect the official keys handover for the vehicles would likely get a mention somewhere.

Roderick,
1925 Morris Commercial 1 ton.
Loosley.

Thanks both,
I won't have the time to hunt up greater detail on Trove. I suspect that a Prov visit for annual reports should reveal a lot (no time for that either). 1 t 1925 Morris is useful knowledge: I can now place the photo elsewhere too. With three dental clinics, but this having fleet number 8, there could be more applications that the found article mentions. Three clinics would be hard pressed to cover all the small schools around the state, even at one per day. I am guessing that the big cities and major towns had a resident dentist, but not free. Into the 1950s, there were vaccination and mothercraft programs too. I wonder when they started? I was an early recipient of the polio one (developed in 1952).

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

As I delved further, scanning family and boat photos, I found a third of the 1925 dental van: the interior. It is either Glen Logie (near Avoca, Vic.) in 1934-35, or Tooradin (Vic.) 1936-41. Until I find the negatives, I can't place it in context.
I don't know what powered the drill: I can't see a generator anywhere, and no evidence of a trailer. Off the 6 V truck battery? In that era, travelling picture showmen would tow a generator on a trailer.
There is a mobile medical clinic in an ambulance thread.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Why would the dentist need a generator ? power ?
The drill would have been pedal driven (by the dentist), they wouldn't have had an xray machine, not much need for electrics really.
A light could be run off the truck's battery for seeing which tooth to extract .
Cheers, Neil