Ernest Edward Dunlop AC CMG OBE (1907 - 1993)

Ancestors

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Second World War 1.2 post war 2 Sources

Biography

Colonel Doctor Sir Ernest "Weary" Dunlop AC CMG OBE FRCS FRACS was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during the Second World War and for his interest in the health and welfare of former prisoners-of-war and their families.

Colonel Sir Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop

Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop was born on 12th July 1907 in Wangaratta, in the north of Victoria at the junction of the Ovens and King Rivers, Australia, the younger son of James Dunlop and Alice Payne. ^[1] He was cared for at Major Plains by his mother's twin sisters as she recovered from what had been a difficult pregnancy and childbirth. Ernest attended the local primary school and then boarded with an aunt for two years whilst attending Benalla High School. In 1910, his father purchased Summerlea, a mixed wheat and sheep farm near Stewarton; he sold it in 1922, after which the family lived at Benalla. Ernest started an apprenticeship in pharmacy when he finished school, and moved to Melbourne in 1927. There, he studied at the Victorian College of Pharmacy and then the University of Melbourne, from where he graduated in 1934 with first class honours in degrees in pharmacy and medicine.

At 193 centimetres (6'4"), Dunlop took up rugby union; commencing as a fourth grade player with the Melbourne University Rugby Club in 1931. He rapidly progressed through the grades, to state, and then to the national representative level, becoming the first Victorian-born player to represent the Wallabies. He made his national representative debut against the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 23rd July 1932.

Dunlop had pursued part-time army service until 1929, when his service ceased under pressure from his pharmacy studies. He re-enlisted in 1935 and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps on 1st July with the rank of Captain. In May 1938 Dunlop left Australia for London on a ship, where he served as her medical officer. In London he attended St Bartholomew's Medical School and in 1938 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Second World War

During the Second World War, 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 26th February 1942, he was promoted to temporary Lieutenant Colonel.^[2]

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, and 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 where prisoners of the Japanese were being used as forced labourers to construct a strategically important supply route between Bangkok and Rangoon. Conditions in the railway camps were primitive and horrific—food was totally inadequate, beatings were frequent and severe, there were no medical supplies, tropical diseases were rampant, and the Japanese required a level of productivity that would have been difficult for fully fit and properly equipped men to achieve. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1947 ^[3] and also Mentioned in Despatches (equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry).

post war

Released and repatriated to Australia, on 8th November 1945 in Toorak Presbyterian Church (now Uniting Church), Victoria, he married his long-time fiancée, Helen Ferguson, a biochemist; arguably the finest rehabilitation he could obtain. ^[4] They had two sons.

'Weary' Dunlop now 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 made a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1948 (FRACS). He worked variously in Melbourne at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for 'service to medicine' in 1965 ^[5] and created Knight Bachelor in the New Year's Honours 1969. ^[6]

Australian of the Year 1976 ^[7] was an exceptional honour that humbled the great man deeply. So deserved. In the Queen's Birthday Honours 1987 'Weary' Dunlop received overdue recognition for his service to ex-prisoners of war when he was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). ^[8]

He passed away as a result of pneumonia on 2nd July 1993 in Prahran, Victoria, aged ten days short of turning 86 years. ^[9] He was survived by his two sons.

In June 2008, 'Weary' Dunlop was honoured in the third set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame. To date, he is the only Victorian so honoured.

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria BMD Births Index Name: DUNLOP, Ernt Edwd; Birth; Mother: Alice Emily Maud, PAYNE; Father: Jas H; Place: WANGARATTA; Year: 1907; Ref: 22853/1907
2. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: VX259 Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Edward Dunlop; accessed 14 Feb 2019
3. ↑ Australian Honours: OBE; accessed 30 Jun 2019
4. ↑ Victoria BMD Marriage Index: Name: DUNLOP, Ernest Edwin; Marriage; Spouse: FERGUSON, Helen Leigh Raeburn; Year: 1945; Ref: 16348/1945
5. ↑ Australian Honours: CMG; accessed 30 Jun 2019
6. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 30 Jun 2019
7. ↑ Australian of the Year website; accessed 7 Jul 2022
8. ↑ Australian Honours: AC; accessed 30 Jun 2019
9. ↑ "Search For Notices". 2022. Ryersonindex.Org. http://ryersonindex.org/search.php

   DUNLOP Edward (Ernest) (Weary) Funeral notice 12JUL1993 Funeral Sydney Morning Herald 07JUL1993

   DUNLOP Edward (Ernest) (Weary) Funeral notice 12JUL1993 Cremation Courier Mail (Brisbane) 07JUL1993

   DUNLOP Ernest Edward (Weary) Funeral notice 12JUL1993 Funeral Canberra Times 07JUL1993

   DUNLOP Ernest Edward (Weary) Death notice 05JUL1993 Publication The Age (Melbourne) 05JUL1993

See also:

• Australian War Memorial: Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Edward 'Weary' Dunlop; accessed 7 Jul 2022.
• Horne, Michele C and Mills, Katie Anne. Dunlop, Sir Ernest Edward (Weary) (1907–1993), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
  published online 2019; accessed online 30 Jun 2019.
• Wikipedia profile: Weary Dunlop; accessed 14 Feb 2019.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152073777/ernest-edward-dunlop: accessed 29 August 2022), memorial page for Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop (12 Jul 1907–2 Jul 1993), Find a Grave Memorial ID 152073777, citing Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Springvale, Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by nettlyne (contributor 47486944).
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/9JWQ-CKQ