Clare is a privately practising midwife and midwifery lecturer from Perth, Western Australia. She has a keen interest in the history of birth and midwifery. Clare is passionate about the frequently untold history of women and this led her to complete her PhD looking at the history of midwifery. Until the early twentieth century birth in Australia was generally at home with a midwife in attendance. The decline of midwifery as an independent profession began in the early twentieth century as nursing and medicine began to encroach on traditional midwifery practice. Midwives as independent practitioners became almost non-existent. These issues are explored further in an article published in the British Journal of Midwifery and in Clare’s PhD.