Great Australians

[noirua]

Lieutenant General Henry "Gordon" Bennett CB, CMG, DSO (16/4/1887 - 1/8/1962) Fought in the 1st and 2nd World Wars - A Great Anzac.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bennett_(Australian_soldier)

 

[drillinto]

John McDouall Stuart (Australia's greatest explorer)

A very fine book on his life and journeys was recently published:
"Mr Stuart's Track" by John Bailey, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2006

 

[noirua]

Sometimes it is difficult to determine Greatness and with a tracker and explorer, who may be unknown or forgotten by most, it means going back to a younger Australia.

Tommy Windich (1840 - 20/2/1876) was an Indigenous Western Australian Explorer and tracker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Windich

http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/dawn/docs/v10/s07/13.pdf

 

[Kipp]

Lord Howard Florey- the man behind penicillin. Certainly one of my favourites.

 

[macca]

For successful early exploration I admire Augustus Gregory.

Led an expedition from WA to Qld coast and never lost a man, one old mare died on the way but another had a foal, so arrived on Qld coast with the same number of horses.

He was the WA surveyor and his maps are still used today, his map sitings have been proved to be within 50 meters using GPS.

I read a book written by his great ? grandson, he followed one of his trip journals using GPS for guidance, found every feature mentioned in the journal.

 

[2020hindsight]

Lord Howard Florey- the man behind penicillin. Certainly one of my favourites.

good one Kipp Florey vs Fleming ..

As per a recent ABC show (SBS?) - he did at least as much as Fleming, although Fleming usually gets "top billing" on the list of people who contributed to discovery of penicillin. Chain and Florey gave many many more hours to penicillin, to producing it commercially, to testing it etc etc than Fleming - even generously discussing the results they'd achieved, only to have Fleming try to take the credit.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/florey-bio.html

Sir Howard Walter Florey was born on September 24, 1898, at Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Joseph and Bertha Mary Florey. His early education was at St. Peter's Collegiate School, Adelaide, following which he went on to Adelaide University where he graduated M.B., B.S. in 1921. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, leading to the degrees of B.Sc. and M.A. (1924). He then went to Cambridge as a John Lucas Walker Student. In 1925 he visited the United States on a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship for a year, returning in 1926 to a Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, receiving here his Ph.D. in 1927. He also held at this time the Freedom Research Fellowship at the London Hospital. In 1927 he was appointed Huddersfield Lecturer in Special Pathology at Cambridge. In 1931 he succeeded to the Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology at the University of Sheffield.

Leaving Sheffield in 1935 he became Professor of Pathology and a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1946 and an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1952. In 1962 he was made Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford.

During World War II he was appointed Honorary Consultant in Pathology to the Army and in 1944 he became Nuffield Visiting Professor to Australia and New Zealand.

His best-known work dates from his collaboration with Chain, which began in 1938 when they conducted a systematic investigation of the properties of naturally occurring antibacterial substances. Lysozyme, an antibacterial substance found in saliva and human tears, was their original interest, but their interest moved to substances now known as antibiotics. The work on penicillin was a result of this interest.

Penicillin had been discovered by Fleming in 1928 as a result of observations on a mould which developed on some germ culture plates but the active substance was not isolated. In 1939, Florey and Chain headed a team of British scientists, financed by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, whose efforts led to the successful small-scale manufacture of the drug from the liquid broth in which it grows. In 1940 a report was issued describing how penicillin had been found to be a chemotherapeutic agent capable of killing sensitive germs in the living body. Thereafter great efforts were made, with government assistance, to enable sufficient quantities of the drug to be made for use in World War II to treat war wounds.

http://www.bookrags.com/Alexander_Fleming?gclid=CLyirtXLjY0CFSnKggodoRgIpA

The Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) is best known for his discovery of penicillin, which has been hailed as "the greatest contribution medical science ever made to humanity." Alexander Fleming was born on Aug. 6, 1881, at Lochfi..

 

[2020hindsight]

I'd say Weary Dunlop would be my first choice - for the philanthropy, for the obvious courage, and for the fact he brought so many bokes through the Burma-Thailand Death Railway days.

and he made the Wallabies
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=83930&highlight=dunlop#post83930

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weary_Dunlop

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE, KStJ (July 12, 1907 – July 2, 1993) was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership whilst being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. He was born in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia.

Post-war life
After 1945, with the darkness of the war years behind him, Dunlop forgave his captors and turned his energies to the task of healing and building. He was to state later that " in suffering we are all equal". 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 was active in many spheres of endeavour. In his own field of surgery, he pioneered new techniques against cancer. He became closely involved with a wide range of health and educational organisations, and his tireless community work had a profound influence on Australians and on the peoples of Asia. As well as numerous tributes and distinctions bestowed upon him in his own country, he received honours from Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom. It was ironic that a man of such enormous energy should be nicknamed "Weary" - a result of word association (Dunlop, tyre, tired, Weary) in his undergraduate days.


[edit] Honours and awards
'Weary' Dunlop received many honours and awards throughout his life, including; the Order of the British Empire (1947); 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; and Life Governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. In 1976 he was named Australian of the Year and in 1988 he was named one of '200 Great Australians'.

 

[2020hindsight]

Here's a website which includes this fellow's (personal) ideas of heroes - he's done a good job, even if some unusual choices.
Aussies Nancy Wake (alias Kiwi) and HV Evatt included - ahh and Florey
http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/

 

[noirua]

Excellent information 2020, very interesting.

Kenneth Bruce Dowding, 4/5/1914 - 30/6/1943, an Uncle of Aussie Premier, Peter Dowding, "The true Prodigal son - an unsung hero": http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2001/jul2001p20_507.html
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2001/sep2001p12_608.html
http://www.christopherlong.co.uk/pub/dowding.html

 

[noirua]

Terence "Terry" Lawless Duigan DFC, 16/12/1916 - ... the longest serving pilot in the RAAF during the second World War, May 1940 - August 1945: http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/duigan_terry_bio.html

 

[noirua]

Listed here are so many Australian War heroes who were awarded the "Victoria Cross" : http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/medals/vc/austlist.html

Reading about the gallantry of so many will take a great deal of time, worth it, I think, so we truly don't forget.

 

[noirua]

Henry Lawson - born 17/6/1867, died 2/9/1922 - Australian Writer and Poet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lawson

 

[noirua]

Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3/12/1906 - 1/5/1974) - Media Proprietor:

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150644b.htm

 

[hangseng]

Without exception A.B. Facey' autobiography is the best real life inspirational story I have ever read. A true Australian legend who personofies the never say die spirit of, and hardship endured, by the people who built and fought for our great country.

"Albert Barnett Facey (born August 31, 1894 in Maidstone, Victoria; died February 1982) is an Australian writer, whose main work was his autobiography A Fortunate Life, now considered a classic in Australian literature.

His father died on the Goldfields of Western Australia in 1896 of typhoid fever and Albert's mother left her children to the care of their grandmother shortly afterwards. In 1899 he moved from Victoria to Western Australia with his grandmother and three of his six older siblings. Most of his childhood was spent in the Wickepin area.

He started working on farms at the age of eight and had little education. By the age of 14 he was an experienced bushman, and at 18 a professional boxer. He was badly injured at Gallipoli in August 1915 during the First World War, in which two of his brothers were killed. While recuperating he met his future wife Evelyn Gibson and they were married in Bunbury in August 1916. The Faceys lived in East Perth before returning to Wickepin six years later with their children, where they lived until 1934. The couple had seven children - the eldest, Barney, was killed during the Second World War - and twenty-eight grandchildren.

After teaching himself to read and write, Facey began making notes on his life and, at the urging of his wife and children, eventually had the notes printed into a book. It was published just nine months before his death in February 1982.[1]

His home in Wickepin is a tourist attraction today, while a government building on Forrest Place in the state capital, Perth, is named in his honour and is home to Perth's main travel bureau and visitor centre. A public library in Mundaring and a hotel in Narrogin also bear his name. The manuscripts of A Fortunate Life are housed in the Scholars' Centre in the University of Western Australia Library."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Facey

 

[Sean K]

Major General Sir Neville Reginald Howse VC, KCB, KCMG (26 October 1863 - 19 September 1930) was the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Received his gong as a doctor in the Boer War.

Was in charge of medical support for Gallipoli which wasn't that flash, but went on to be Minister for Health and Defence.

Most 'warriors' are shocked to find out the first Aussie VC winner was a doctor!



Legend.....

 

[2020hindsight]

Kennas I never realised that a doctor was first Aus VC that's for sure -

Did some research once, and found that one of the first Anzacs to be shot on the beach at Anzac Cove was a Sapper (Engineer) who was in a party to try to find water.

Likewise Blackjack Callighan totally disapproved of Weary Dunlop getting seniority in Singapore by the same token - despite his unrivalled leadership qualities - and in the end of course, no one else could have done what Weary did in those camps up along the River Kwai.

 

[2020hindsight]

http://www.hawkesburyhistory.org.au/articles/phillip.html
Governor Arthur Phillip (1738 - 1814)
Our first great Australian ?

Arthur Phillip was born in 1738 in London, the son of Jacob Phillip, a language teacher who came from Frankfurt, and Elizabeth, nee Breach. He attended the Greenwich school for the sons of seamen and was apprenticed to the Merchant Navy, ...... During the American War of Independence in 1778, he returned to the English navy and became a post captain in 1781. After the war, Phillip was doing survey work for the British Admiralty when he was appointed as first governor of New South Wales in October 1786.

He had risen in the navy by his own effort at a time when patronage was the norm, and was considered reliable and trustworthy. His knowledge of farming may have also influenced the decision

Unlike the British authorities, he was seized by a great vision of a new British outpost to be established in the southern seas. He wanted free settlement encouraged and proposed to try to reform the convicts and to treat Aborigines kindly, establishing harmonious relations with them.

He also had good understanding of administrative detail and considerable foresight. He understood the difficulties involved in transporting men and women from England to an unknown land on the other side of the world and lobbied for sufficient equipment, food and clothing to enable a safe passage.

Other instructions advised Phillip about managing the convicts, granting and cultivating the land, and exploring the country. The Aborigines' lives and livelihoods were to be protected and friendly relations with them encouraged, but the Instructions make no mention of protecting or even recognising their lands. It was assumed that Australia was terra nullius, that is, land belonging to no one. This assumption shaped land law and occupation for more than 200 years.

Although they were instructed to establish themselves at Botany Bay, Phillip was separately authorised to choose any other appropriate neighbouring territory. When the last vessel left for England in November 1788, a quantity of clay from Sydney was consigned to Josiah Wedgwood on the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks, and from this first export the Wedgwood Sydney medallions were made.

A fleet of 11 ships -- ..... in what is now know as Sydney Cove on Jan. 26, 1788--now celebrated as Australia Day."

Phillip established the convict colony in Sydney Cove, which he governed in a sensible and humane way, despite conditions which included poor quality food, largely infertile land and a lack of experienced farm labour which led to near-famine. He requested a return to England in 1790, pleading ill-health, and eventually sailed for England in 1792, leaving a colony with more than 1,700 acres of land under cultivation or cleared and ready for sowing and which, within another year, was almost able to support itself.

Within six weeks after the arrival of the First Fleet in Port Jackson, Governor Arthur Phillip hopeful of finding better grazing and agricultural land set out to explore the coast to the north of Port Jackson in a cutter. On the 2nd of March, they arrived in Broken Bay and explored Brisbane Water and Cowan Creek and traveled up the Hawkesbury River as far as Dangar Island.

In August 1788 Phillip accompanied by an exploration party travelled overland from Manly Cove to Pittwater and back.

Not a little alarm was occasioned among the white population during April of 1789, by the discovery that small-pox had broken out among the Aborigines, and was killing them off in numbers. The dead bodies of many of the natives were discovered in various places about the shores of the harbour and in the bush, and upon two sick children and an adult male being brought, by the Governor's orders, to the camp, .... The two black children taken in hand by the Governor recovered, but the adult died; and it was remarked as a most singular thing, that while all the whites escaped the contagion, it seized a North American Indian who happened to be employed on board the Supply, and speedily carried him off. .... , a similarly disastrous visitation fell upon the black race in one of the South Sea Islands””Fiji””and depopulated whole villages.

...

"there is a flat of six or seven miles between Richmond Hill and a break in the mountains, which separates Lansdown and Carmarthen Hills, and in this flat I suppose the Hawkesbury continues its course, but which could not be seen for the timber that, with very few exceptions, covers the country wherever the soil is good.

The great advantages of so noble a river, when a settlement can be made on its banks, will be obvious to your Lordship.

-A. Phillip to Lord Sydney, 13 February 1790, in Historical Records of Australia, series I, vol.-, pp. 155-6

Phillip established the convict colony in NSW, which he governed in a sensible and humane way, despite adverse conditions which included poor quality food, largely infertile land and a lack of experienced farm labour which led to near-famine. He requested to be allowed to return to England in 1790, pleading ill-health, and eventually sailed for England in 1792, leaving a colony with more than 1,700 acres of land under cultivation or cleared and ready for sowing and which, within another year, was almost able to support itself.

Phillip had hoped to return to the colony when his health was restored. Instead he went back to active service in the navy, commanding several ships during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1789 he was made a rear-admiral, on the 11th December 1792 Phillip sailed for England on the "Atlantic" to seek medical attention, & his health compelled him to resign formally on 23rd July 1793. He continued his progression in the naval hierarchy, becoming an admiral of the blue in 1814, the year of his death.

 

[2020hindsight]

Likewise Blackjack Callighan totally disapproved of Weary Dunlop getting seniority in Singapore by the same token - despite his unrivalled leadership qualities - and in the end of course, no one else could have done what Weary did in those camps up along the River Kwai.

I've already posted my thoughts about Weary Dunlop.
The fact that he was loved by hundreds and one of the biggest funerals ever.

http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/dunlop/bio.htm
Dunlop's ... involvement in the Colombo Plan. He taught and undertook surgical work in Thailand, Ceylon and India. He encouraged and promoted the training in Australia of Asian medical personnel and was an active member of the Australian-Asian Association of Victoria. His involvement in Indian medicine was particularly strong and he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Association of Surgeons in 1972. Inl 969 he was Team Leader of the Australian Surgical Team to South Vietnam.

Dunlop maintained an ongoing concern for the health and welfare of former POWs of the Japanese (many of whom were his patients). He supported individuals making pension claims and advised and lobbied governments on their behalf. He was Chairman of the Prisoners of War Trust Fund from l969-77.

Dunlop also remained active with ex-prisoner of war and veterans associations, being for a time federal president of the Ex-POW Association of Australia. He addressed numerous reunions, meetings and ceremonies both in Australia and overseas. In his later years he led commemorative tours to the Burma-Thailand railway. He came to reject hatred of his former captors and promoted reconciliation with the Japanese.

Dunlop was also a patron, member and supporter of numerous social, educational and sporting associations. These included the Freemasons, Ormond College and the Melbourne Scots.

Gregarious by nature, Dunlop maintained a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in Australia and overseas and was to be seen at many social occasions. He was a diligent letter writer and conscientious in sending Christmas cards.

During the course of his life Dunlop received numerous honours and awards in recognition of his civic, sporting, educational, military and medical achievements. These included the Order of the British Empire (1947), Knight Batchelor (1969), Companion of the Order of Australia (1987), Knight Grand Cross, Order of St John of Jerusalem (1992), Knight Grand Cross (1st Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Royal Crown of Thailand (1993). He was an Honorary Fellow of the Imperial College of London, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Honorary Life Member of the RSL and Life Governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. In 1977 he was named Australian of the Year and in 1988 one ofthe 200 Great Australians.

On 21 April 1988 Helen Dunlop died. She had been suffering from Alzheimers Disease for many years.

After contacting pneumonia, Dunlop died at his home on 2 July 1993. He was accorded a state funeral on 12 July at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. Over 10,000 people witnessed his funeral, attesting to his great public esteem and popularity.

And now for a completely different type of leadership Effective sure, just ...
different
Maybe Weary's influence and "humanity" rubbed off on him

http://www.awm.gov.au/people/180.asp
Major General Frederick Gallagher 'Black Jack' Galleghan, DSO, OBE, ISO
He was given the name "Black Jack" for his complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes. He was a stern figure with a natural air of authority that brooked no dissent. Some officers claimed to have feared Galleghan more than they did the Japanese. Nevertheless he is said to have been a respected leader who understood that his men's survival depended on their morale, which he maintained through the imposition of military discipline.

After liberation he told his men that they were returning home as soldiers not prisoners and subsequently refused to be associated with prisoner-of-war organisations.

He was promoted to colonel and honorary brigadier, made retrospective to 1942, and transferred to the retired list in January 1946.

Galleghan headed the Australian Military Mission to Germany in 1948-49 as an honorary major general and became involved in helping displaced persons to immigrate to Australia. He retired from the public service in 1959 and served as honorary secretary of the Royal Humane Society of New South Wales between 1959-70. He also worked with both the Services Canteens Trust and Australian Cadet Corps during his retirement.

In 1969 Galleghan was knighted for his services to veterans and married for a second time. He died on 20 April 1971 in Mosman, Sydney.

Burma-Thailand Railway
Australian prisoners of war on Java under Dunlop's command were transferred later that year to Singapore. Here Dunlop clashed with Lt Colonel Galleghan (commander of the 8th Australian Division troops in Changi) over Dunlop's authority as a non-combatant commander.

On 20 January 1943 he left Singapore for Thailand in charge of "Dunlop Force" to work on the Burma-Thailand railway. He remained there until the war ended, labouring tirelessly to save wounded, sick and malnourished men. Many times he put his own life at risk as he stood up to the brutality of his Japanese captors. Though not the only medical officer to act in this selfless way, his name was to become a legend among Australian prisoners of war and an inspiration for their own survival. Throughout his captivity and at great personal risk Dunlop recorded his experiences in his diaries.

On 27 September 1945 Dunlop was appointed Lt Colonel.

Give me the Lt Col over the Maj Gen any day

 

[noirua]

Hi 2020, Does Governor Arthur Phillip (1738-1812) really count as an Australian? He came to found a Penal Colony and his roots are solidly in Europe.

I've decided to disqualify him. Sorry, but the decision is final, unless of course you think otherwise.

 

[Sean K]

Hi 2020, Does Governor Arthur Phillip (1738-1812) really count as an Australian? He came to found a Penal Colony and his roots are solidly in Europe.

I've decided to disqualify him. Sorry, but the decision is final, unless of course you think otherwise.

Ditto. Sorry 20/20, the guy is a Pom.

Although, I think my nom was a Pom too. He was in his 20s when he moved to Oz I think.....