Mortality in paediatric burns at the Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH), Adelaide, South Australia: 1960-2017.

•Higher mortality rates in our paediatric population in the 1960s were associated with clothes catching alight.•Dr Thomas Pressley and Mr Murray Clarke pioneered the investigations surrounding fabric flammability.•Their investigations drove the development of safety standards for children’s clothing in Australia.•Improvements in paediatric intensive care and anaesthetic safety, and advancements in surgical care and wound management have increased survival rates.