"Weary" Dunlop

Australian Surgeon.

Son of James and Alice Dunlop. He studied at the Victorian College of Pharmacy and the University of Melbourne where he obtained a scholarship in medicine. He graduated in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and medicine.

He was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps on 1 July 1935 with the rank of Captain. He served in many campaigns during World War II and attained the rank of Colonel. He was captured by the Japanese in Bandung, Java, at the hospital he was commanding in 1942 and taken prisoner of war. Reputed as a courageous leader and compassionate doctor, he restored morale in the prison camps and jungle hospitals. He became, in the words of his men, 'a lighthouse of sanity in a universe of madness and suffering'.

After the war he devoted himself to the health and welfare of former prisoners of war and their families and worked to promote better relations between Australia and Asia.

He received many honours and awards throughout his life, including: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1947) Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1965) Knight Bachelor (1969) Australian of the Year 1976 Companion of the Order of Australia (1987) Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (1992) Knight Grand Cross (1st Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Royal Crown of Thailand (1993) Honorary Fellow of the Imperial College London Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Honorary Life Member of the Returned and Services League of Australia Life Governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Named one of '200 Great Australians' (1988) Inducted into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame (2008) Canberra suburb of Dunlop named after him (1993) His image imprinted on the Australian fifty cent coin (1995) Platoon named after him in the Army Recruit Training Centre, Blamey Barracks, Kapooka, New South Wales. His image imprinted on one of 1995 Australia Remembers 45c stamps.

He died aged 85 years.