Edward Dunlop
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Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop (July 12, 1907 - July 2, 1993) was born in Wangaratta, Victora, Australia.
Weary Dunlop was a surgeon who was renowned for his bravery whilst being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.
After a childhood spent in Benalla in north-eastern Victoria, Dunlop graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and in medicine, and excelled as a sportsman at Melbourne University, representing Australia in rugby. The surgeons leading qualification in London soon followed, and from there, when war broke out in 1939, he volunteered for the 2nd AIF.
During World War II, Dunlop was appointed to medical headquarters in the Middle East, where he developed the mobile surgical unit. In Greece he liaised with forward medical units and Allied headquarters, and at Tobruk he was a surgeon until the Australian Divisions were withdrawn for home defence. His troopship was diverted to Java in an ill-planned attempt to bolster the defences there. On 26 February, 1942, he was promoted to temporary Lt Colonel. Dunlop became a Japanese prisoner of war in 1942 when he was captured in Bandung, Java, together with the hospital he was commanding.
Because of his leadership skills, he was placed in charge of prisoner-of-war camps in Java, was later transferred briefly to Changi, and in January 1943 commanded the first Australians sent to work on the Thai segment of the Burma-Thailand railway.
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After being held in a number of camps in Java, he was eventually moved to the Thai-Burma railway, where prisoners of the Japanese were being used as slave labour to construct a strategically important railway between the Indochina and Burma areas of operation. Conditions in the railway camps were primitive and horrific - food was totally inadequate, beatings were frequent and severe, there were no medical supplies, tropical disease was rampant, and the Japanese required a level of productivity that would have been difficult for fully fit and properly equipped men to achieve.
Along with a number of other Commonwealth Medical Officers, Dunlop's dedication and heriosm became a legend among prisoners.
A courageous leader and compassionate doctor, he restored morale in those terrible prison camps and jungle hospitals. Dunlop defied his captors, gave hope to the sick and eased the anguish of the dying. He became, in the words of one of his men, "a lighthouse of sanity in a universe of madness and suffering".
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 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.
External links
- Australian War Memorial Site (http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/dunlop/index.htm)
- Top Achievers (http://www.achievers-odds.com.au/topachiever/wdunlopfull.htm)
- Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop Medical Research Foundation (http://www.siredwarddunlop.com.au/bio.htm)