Obituaries
Paying tribute to the lives of Melbourne Medical School alumni.
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Dr Margaret M Henderson OBE
Dr Margaret Mary Henderson OBE (MBBS 1938, MD 1941, DMedSc 2012) was born in Melbourne on November 13, 1915, the first child of the Reverend Kenneth Thorne Henderson (BA 1911, GDipEd 1912) and his wife Charlotte Mary, who was the eldest daughter of Rear Admiral Frederick Tickell.
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Dr Rajaratnam (Raj) Sundarason
Dr Rajaratnam (Raj) Sundarason (MBBS 1956) arrived in Australia from Singapore in February 1950 as a 21-year-old Colombo Plan student preparing to study medicine at the University of Melbourne.
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Dr Serge Liberman OAM
Dr Serge Liberman OAM (MBBS 1967), author, editor, scholar, bibliographer and medical practitioner, died in Melbourne in December 2017, aged 75. For more than 40 years he was a leading light in Australian Jewish literary and multicultural spheres.
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Dr Gerard John McCaffrey
The second of five children, Dr Gerard John McCaffrey was born to Paul and Maree on 22 March 1972. As the son of a diplomat, Gerard’s childhood was characterised by travel and immersion in new and different cultures. At school, Gerard worked hard because he wanted to fulfil a longstanding dream of becoming a doctor.
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Bernard (Bunny) William Neal, MBBS 1947
After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1947, Bernard spent almost all of his professional life at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) as Physician (1960-1973), Physician Head of Unit (1973-1989) and Physician in Charge Enuresis Unit (1966-1989). He was Honorary Secretary and later Chairman of the Senior Medical Staff Association, and served on many committees.
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Marie Cockbill (Swaney) & William (Bill) E Swaney, MBBS 1943
Marie Swaney (nee Cockbill) and Bill Swaney were a remarkable couple, each an alumnus/a of Melbourne Medical School, who died within four weeks of each other in 2013.
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Kenneth John Millar, MBBS 1979
Ken has left a memorable legacy as clinical educator and mentor to his students, residents and registrars. He also contributed to the education of surgical and operating theatre nurses, theatre technicians and orderlies.
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Ida Seward (Benson) & Michael Benson, MBBS 1941
Ida was Michael’s foil: blessed with a gentle good humour and an ability to see beyond the crisis. She was the steady ship in a stormy sea – peaceful, cheerful, kind, welcoming and generous. Each were loving, and greatly loved, parents; both led lives of service to the community.
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Evelyn Livingstone Billings AM, MBBS 1942
For 1942 graduate Evelyn ('Lyn') Livingstone Billings (nee Thomas), medicine was the bridge between a childhood in the southern Riverina and an international reputation in fertility regulation.
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Donald (Don) Stephen Esmore AO, MBBS 1973
Don’s achievements were recognised with his appointment as Officer of the Order of Australia, and receipt of the Prime Minister’s Centennial Medal. He will be remembered for his peerless surgical skill, clinical acumen and quite extraordinary instincts.
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William L Rait, MBBS 1947
William Lockhart Rait, a pioneer of high altitude medical research, died at the age of 104 in a Melbourne Nursing Home on 7 December 2013.
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William Samuel Calhoun Hare AO, MBBS 1967
Professor Emeritus Bill Hare was Head of Australia’s first University Department of Radiology and a world pioneer of Interventional Radiology, the extension of diagnostic techniques into minimally invasive treatment.
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Bertram Sutherland Vanrenen, MBBS 1951
Bert was a proud traditional general practitioner who made family medicine his life's work. He firmly believed and preached early diagnosis and preventive medicine.
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Margery Clare McKinnon, MBBS 1950
Margery Clare McKinnon was a dedicated paediatrician who spent most of her working life at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital (QVMH), the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, and in private practice.
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Roy Lawrence Willis Fink, MBBS 1961
Roy will be remembered for his absolute dedication to his patients whom he treated equally no matter their walk in life, his unerring sense of responsibility, honesty, empathy, modesty and great humour.
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Mr James Stuart Guest AM OBE VRD
James Guest served his discipline with distinction, as surgeon, anatomist, medical historian and as an astute and perceptive leader.
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Professor Emeritus Gordon Clunie
Gordon James Aitken Clunie (MD 1997) was a pre-eminent figure in the surgical life of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
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Dr Mary Blythe Wheeler & Dr Bernice Stratford
In the space of two weeks from Christmas Day 2016, the Melbourne Medical School lost two remarkable women and pioneering members of staff.
The medical graduating class of 1910-11 commissioned a plaque in fond commemoration of their classmate, Canute Henry Clowes.
In the early 1900s, the medical graduating class of 1910-11 commissioned a plaque in fond commemoration of their classmate, Canute Henry Clowes. Canute had died from a peri-tonsilar abscess only months before he had a chance to sit his final exam in the medical course. Baldwin Spencer, then Secretary of the Sports Union, wrote to Canute Clowes’ father, telling him of the ‘memorial tablet’ erected by the students and noting that he trusted the plaque would be ‘of some gratification’ to the Clowes family because through it ‘his memory will be perpetuated amongst future generations of students’. The plaque, discovered by Rita Hardiman, when she was curator of the Harry Brookes Allen Museum in 2005, has been restored and is in the Medical History Museum collection.
These pages are where we remember and celebrate the lives of alumni who are no longer with us. Contributions are welcome and should be directed to The Editor, Chiron, 4th Floor, 766 Elizabeth Street, The University of Melbourne or via email to: alumni-mms@unimelb.edu.au.