Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop

Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop was a surgeon in the Australian army during World War Two. He is famous for the care he took of soldiers who had been taken prisoner by the Japanese. Even in the most horrible conditions Weary found energy to fight for the health and the lives of these men. Weary grew up on farms in country Victoria. Weary was a natural athlete and at school in Benalla, he liked to play sport more than to study. He went to Melbourne in 1927 and began studying medicine at Melbourne University. He also played with Australia's National rugby team, the Wallabies, and was a champion boxer.

Courtesy of Australian War Memorial

When World War Two broke out Weary knew his skills were needed to help wounded soldiers and about a year after enlisting in the Australian Army, Weary was sent to Java in Indonesia. The Japanese had attacked the island, and Weary was needed to help treat the casualties. But just two weeks after his arrival Japanese troops captured the town where Weary was living. The prisoners were taken by ship from Singapore to Burma and then crammed into train carriages for a five day horror ride to Thailand.

As a commander, Weary had the awful job of deciding who was fit enough to work. As a surgeon, he was also the one who patched the men when they were injured. Weary was always on his feet, his feet were worse with ulcers. Lots of people complained about ulcers on their feet. The Japanese always expected ill men to work. Even though the Japanese were horrible to the prisoners Weary forgave the Japanese soldiers.
After the war, Weary Dunlop went on to foster Australian-Asian relations by teaching medicine in India, Sri Lanka and south-East Asia under the Colombo plan, co-founding the Australian-Asian Association. He used the $200,000 raised from the publication of his personal war diaries to help young Thai surgeons to study in Australia. Weary Dunlop died when he was 86 in 1993.

Courtesy of the Shepparton News