{"id":28,"date":"2019-10-27T09:12:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T09:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.btrma.org.au\/wordpress\/?page_id=28"},"modified":"2020-05-01T11:54:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T03:54:48","slug":"sir-weary-dunlop","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/?page_id=28","title":{"rendered":"Sir Weary Dunlop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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LT COLONEL<\/strong> SIR EDWARD ERNEST DUNLOP.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the course of his life Sir Edward Dunlop received numerous honours and awards in recognition of his civic, sporting, educational, military and medical achievements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These included: – Order of the British Empire (1947). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knight Bachelor (1969). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companion of the Order of Australia (1988), <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knight Grand Cross. Order of St John of Jerusalem (1992)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knight Grand Cross (1st Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Royal Crown of Thailand (1993).\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorary Fellow of the Imperial College of London. Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorary Life Member of the RSL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life Governor of the Royal Women’s Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australian of the Year 1977. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the 200 \u201cGreat Australians1988\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward\nErnest Dunlop was born on 12 July 1907 at Major’s Plain, Victoria. to James and\nAlice (nee Payne). In 1910 the family moved to a farm near Stewarton and in\n1922 to Benalla. Dunlop attended Stewarton Public School and Benalla High\nSchool. His upbringing imbued him with a strong work ethic and a pride in his\nScottish heritage, the British Empire and British governance and institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\ncommencing a pharmacy apprenticeship in 1924 at Benalla Dunlop moved to\nMelbourne in 1927 to attend the Pharmacy College. He won a scholarship in 1930\nto Ormond College, Melbourne University to study medicine. Acquired his\nnickname “Weary” (derived from Dunlop tyres) during the course of\ninitiation ceremonies at the college.  Graduated\nin 1934 with first class honours. Excelled  on the sports field, especially in rugby union\nat which he represented Australia in 1932.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\njoined the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a junior resident in 1935 and was\nappointed Senior Surgical Resident in 1936. In 1937 he joined the Children’s\nHospital as Resident. In 1937 he graduated as Master of Surgery from Melbourne\nUniversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunlop\nhad been a school cadet, and he continued his part-time army service until 1929\nwhen his service ceased under pressure from his pharmacy studies. He\nre-enlisted in 1935 and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps\non 1 July with the rank of Captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nMay 1938 Dunlop left Australia for London aboard the SS Ormonde as the ship’s\nmedical officer. In London he attended St Bartholomew’s Medical School and in\n1938 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The distinguished\nmedical mentors Dunlop met in London (for example Professor Grey-Turner and Sir\nThomas Dunhill) impressed him with their total dedication to their profession,\nand he resolved to emulate their example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe outbreak of war Dunlop was working as a surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital,\nPaddington. He enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps (6th Division) on\n13 November 1939 with the rank of Captain. He was posted in December 1939 as\nMedical Officer, Headquarters, Australian Overseas Base, Jerusalem, and\nappointed Acting Assistant Director of Medical Services. He was promoted to\nMajor on 1 May 1940 and appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services\non the staff of the Australian Corps Headquarters and AIF Headquarters in Gaza\nand Alexandria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appointed\nas AIF Medical Liaison Officer on the staff of the Deputy Director of Medical\nServices of Lusterforce, he served in both Greece and Crete. On 18 July 1941 he\nwas appointed to command 2\/2 Casualty Clearing Station (2\/2 CCS), but he was\ndissatisfied with staff work and declined this promotion. He remained with this\nunit as senior surgeon (and second in charge) and subsequently served with them\nin Tobruk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nthe withdrawal of the 6th and 7th Australian Divisions from the Middle East,\nthe 2\/2 Casualty Clearing Station (and Dunlop) were transferred to Java. Here\nhe was promoted to temporary Lt Colonel on 26 February 1942. He was in command\nof No.1 Allied General Hospital at Bandoeng (Bandung) when Java fell to the\nJapanese, and he became a prisoner of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burma-Thailand\nRailway.Australian prisoners of war on Java under Dunlop’s command were\ntransferred to Singapore later in 1942. Here Dunlop clashed with Lt Colonel\nGalleghan (commander of the 8th Australian Division troops in Changi) over\nDunlop’s authority as a non-combatant commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n20 January 1943 he left Singapore for Thailand in charge of “Dunlop\nForce” (also known as Dunlop\u2019s Thousand) to work on the Burma-Thailand\nrailway. He remained there until the war ended, labouring tirelessly to save\nwounded, sick and malnourished men. Many times he put his own life at risk as\nhe stood up to the brutality of his Japanese captors. Though not the only medical\nofficer to act in this selfless way, his name was to become a legend among\nAustralian prisoners of war and an inspiration for their own survival.\nThroughout his captivity and at great personal risk Dunlop recorded his\nexperiences in his diaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n27 September 1945 Dunlop was appointed Lt Colonel. Returning to Australia in\nOctober 1945 he was demobilised on 1 February 1946, transferring to the Reserve\nList of Officers with the rank of Honorary Colonel. Before demobilisation he\nhad been working (since 10 December 1945) with Brigadier Blackburn at Army\nHeadquarters as Assistant Director of Medical Services to Blackforce. Here his\nwork was driven by a desire to obtain a level of justice for former prisoners\nof war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nthe Second World War<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\na student at Ormond College, Dunlop had met Helen Ferguson met and they became\nengaged on 6 June l940. On 8 November 1945 they were married at Toorak\nPresbyterian Church, Melbourne. They subsequently had two sons, John and\nAlexander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nFebruary 1946 Dunlop resumed his medical and established a thriving private\npractice. At the Royal Melbourne Hospital he was appointed Honorary Surgeon to\nOutpatients and in 1949 Honorary Surgeon to In-Patients. He was made a Fellow\nof the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in January 1948. He joined the\nstaff of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and in 1956 became Consultant\nSurgeon to the Peter MacCallum Clinic. In 1964 he was appointed the Senior\nConsultant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Obliged by age to retire from the\nRoyal Melbourne Hospital in 1967, Dunlop continued to practise medicine and was\nappointed medical officer for the British Phosphate Commission from 1973 to\n1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunlop\nperformed a variety of surgical work but developed a particular interest in\ngastro-oesophageal surgery and cancer. He pioneered new surgical techniques,\nthough his methods were not without critics. He lectured on his medical\ninterests and for a time taught at the University of Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visits\nto the United States, Britain and other countries developed his professional\nknowledge and widened his professional and social contacts, and he was actively\ninvolved with Australian and international professional bodies, including the\nInternational Society of Surgeons. His medical interests extended to community\nhealth matters, such as cancer, alcoholism, drug dependence and fluoridation.\nHe served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Anti-Cancer Council of\nVictoria (1974 80) and President of the Victorian Foundation on Alcoholism and\nDrug Dependence (1970-82).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunlop’s\nfriendship with Lord Casey led to his involvement in the Colombo Plan. He\ntaught and undertook surgical work in Thailand, Ceylon and India. He encouraged\nand promoted the training in Australia of Asian medical personnel and was an\nactive member of the Australian-Asian Association of Victoria. His involvement\nin Indian medicine was particularly strong and he was made an Honorary Fellow\nof the Indian Association of Surgeons in 1972. In 1969 he was Team Leader of\nthe Australian Surgical Team to South Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunlop\nmaintained an ongoing concern for the health and welfare of former POWs of the\nJapanese (many of whom were his patients). He supported individuals making\npension claims and advised and lobbied governments on their behalf. He was\nChairman of the Prisoners of War Trust Fund from l969-77. Dunlop also remained\nactive with ex-prisoner of war and veterans associations, being for a time\nfederal president of the Ex-POW Association of Australia. He addressed numerous\nreunions, meetings and ceremonies both in Australia and overseas. In his later\nyears he led commemorative tours to the Burma-Thailand railway. He came to\nreject hatred of his former captors and promoted reconciliation with the\nJapanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunlop\nwas also a patron, member and supporter of numerous social, educational and\nsporting associations. These included the Freemasons, Ormond College and the\nMelbourne Scots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregarious\nby nature, Dunlop maintained a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in\nAustralia and overseas and was to be seen at many social occasions. He was a\ndiligent letter writer and conscientious in sending Christmas cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n21 April 1988 Helen Dunlop died. She had been suffering from Alzheimers Disease\nfor many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\ncontacting pneumonia, Dunlop died at his home on 2 July 1993. He was accorded a\nstate funeral on 12 July at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. Over 10,000 people\nwitnessed his funeral, attesting to his great public esteem and popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Included\nIn an eulogy the then Governor General of Australia, the  Rt. Hon. Sir Ninian Stephen referred\neloquently to Sir Edward, including the following passages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn\nthis present age there is a dearth of heroes. \nAnd it is as a hero that we remember Weary Dunlop.   He was virtuous, kind and immensely brave,\nutterly steadfast in the path of duty and invincible in his courage.   We remember him not simply as the doer of\nsome single deed of great bravery but as an immensely valiant human being who\nfor years on end was consistently courageous under terrible stress, his sense\nof duty unshakable and his compassion for his fellow men unfailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\ndedicated his life to the healing of others, he found himself tested as few\nhave been before him.   A prisoner among prisoners,\nall despised and all sought to be humiliated by their captors, he rejected\nhumiliation.  Through sheer nobility of\ncharacter, strength of purpose and strength of body too,   he survived torture and vile treatment to\ncontinue his care for his men, caring for their disease-racked bodies, inspiring\nthem with hope when hope was faint and with human dignity and self respect when\nall outward dignity seemed gone and respect for self was sought to be starved\nand beaten out of them.  As Laurens van\nder Post has written, he was both the inspiration and the main instrument of\nhis men\u2019s physical and spiritual survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nof us who have in our lives been spared the extremes of brutality, starvation,\ndisease and near-terminal exhaustion that he knew and, still worse, that he saw\nbeing suffered by those under his command and in his care, we can only\nspeculate on the despair to be overcome and the suffering to be endured by\nthose Australian prisoners-of-war.  We\ncan only marvel at them, and at him, asking ourselves how we would have fared\nhad we been one of them and knowing that, lacking the rare heroic qualities of\nWeary Dunlop, we might have survived but could never have quietly triumphed as\nWeary did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nunbelievable horror of those times lives in the pages of Weary  Dunlop\u2019s \nprisoner-of-war diaries,  the  deaths, \nthe  beatings,  the \nstarvation,  the  sheer \ninhumanity  of  it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout   he was an inspiration to all, his own suffering\nignored in the service of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ncan\u2019t  attempt  to \ndescribe the experiences of those times; nor should I, only  those who endured them, those whom Weary\nwrote of as part of  \u201dthe timeless,  enduring, \nspecial brotherhood shared  by all\nsurvivors of prison camps\u201d, many of them here at this service today,  know \nand  fully  comprehend \nthat  experience. The diaries tell\nit all; and the tales of these survivors are the best testimony to the heroism\nof this man.   Those diaries he wrote as\na military duty, never intending publication and for over forty years they\nremained unpublished until he was persuaded that they should at last see the\nlight of day. The diaries tell it all; and the tales of these survivors are the\nbest testimony to the heroism of this man.  \nHe  was  a \nlegend  already  on his \nreturn  at  war\u2019s \nend  to Australia and to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nall his life was a quiet triumph.  In\nevery test he put himself to, he passed; every task he set himself he\nfulfilled.  As sportsman on the rugby\nfield, as boxer in the ring, as surgeon, as soldier, as loving husband and\nfather and as honoured friend to every man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nperhaps only Douglas Mawson, of all Australians, he shares a lone eminence of\nsustained heroism and superb achievement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\ndeath does not leave us the poorer, instead because it concentrates our\nthoughts on him and on his life and example we are enriched and inspired.    If we cannot emulate him his great gifts of\nmind and of character eluding us, we can at least try to guide our actions by\nthe pre-eminent standards that he made his own and by which we will remember\nhim\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LT COLONEL SIR EDWARD ERNEST DUNLOP. During the course of his life Sir Edward Dunlop received numerous honours and awards … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1912,"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}