Weary - "In suffering we are all equals"

A measure of the ethos of a Society is the writ of its citizens through their devotion to their comrades. Sir Edward (Weary) Dunlop (1907-1993) was by that measure one of its finest.

Born at Wangaratta (in northern Victoria) Weary, as he became known in the 1920s whilst studying - the nickname comes from a brand of tyres called 'Dunlop' thus tyres-tires-weary!

Dunlop graduated from Melbourne University with first class honours in Pharmacy and Medicine in 1934. During his time at University he was also a notable sportsman in the game of Rugby Union, making his debut for Australia (the Wallabies) in 1932, the first person from the Australian State of Victoria (of which the preeminent sport was then Australian Rules Football followed by Cricket) to do so. He played in a number of 'Tests' and is a member of the Australian Rugby Union 'Hall of Fame' - the only domiciled resident of Victoria to be so.

At University, Dunlop had been an Army school cadet. Though, after 1929, he had to drop this activity to concentrate on his studies. He re-enlisted again in early 1935 (at the completion of his studies) and in July of that year was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps (Citizen Military Forces - akin to the Army Reserve) with the rank of Captain. To further his medical career, Dunlop sailed to England in 1938 and worked under the tutelage and mentoring of Professor George Grey-Tuner and Sir Thomas Dunhill whose work ethic and devotion to patients he would constantly strive to emulate.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Dunlop arranged to become attached (directly from England) to the Australian Army Medical Headquarters at that time serving in the Middle East in support of British Forces. Whilst there he established mobile medical Units (in which he served with distinction) in the Greece campaign (1941) and in the famous Rats of Tobruk (Libya) defence later that year. The Australian Divisions (including Medical Units) were ordered withdrawn and to be shipped home for the defence of Australia then under Japanese threat following Pearl Harbour in late 1941 and the aerial bombings of the northern Australian mainland town of Darwin in early 1942. En-route back to Australia, the Divisions was controversially diverted to the island of Java (north of Australia) in an ill-advised move to bolster defences there. Subsequently, Japanese forces attacked and quickly overran the outnumbered, ill-supplied and outgunned defences. Dunlop, (who could have escaped but stayed with the Army Hospital he was supporting and its patients) along with thousands of Australian and Allied soldiers became Prisoners-of-War (POWs) for the next 3 years.

During this time of captivity, all Prisoners and many more Indigenous peoples, suffered cruelly at the hands of their captors. Notably, Dunlop was involved in the notorious building of the Thai-Burma Railway, where Prisoners were used as slave-labour to build a link between Rangoon and Bangkok. Many tens of thousands died and many more endured brutal beatings, malnourishment, horrible diseases, injury and starvation. Under these appalling circumstances Dunlop and other medical officers and orderlies bravely and unselfishly attended to the sick, wounded and dying in appalling primitive conditions with little or no medical supplies. Resulting from Dunlop's efforts and by his leadership of the POW Camps, many lives were saved. In return Dunlop was adored and loved by the soldiers he shared in that unimaginably savage captivity.

At the completion of the war and now with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, Dunlop was de-mobbed from the Army, and returned to civilian life in 1946 (after marrying in late 1945 - his fiancé, now life partner, Helen Ferguson, to whom he had become engaged in back in 1940). After the War, Dunlop devoted the remainder of his years to his medical practice and its endeavours, notably the treatment of cancer and the welfare of veterans and their dependants. He was also an Ambassador of sorts, through the post-war Colombo Plan that promoted scholarship and fellowship across Nations as well as extensive involvement in teaching. He also, and famously so, in an inspiring act of reconciliation, forgave his captors by stating, "In suffering we are all equals".

At his State funeral in 1993 over 10,000 people lined the streets of Melbourne to honour his passing. I recall seeing many of the Veterans openly weeping at the sight of Dunlop's coffin both at the sadness at his death but also in appreciation of what he had done for many of them.

The photograph is part of a magnificent, larger than life, bronze statue on a granite pedestal, of Weary that stands in Kings Doman Park facing St. Kilda Road - a major boulevard of Melbourne not far from the CBD. The statue is the result of the work of noted Australian Sculptor, Peter Corlett, and was unveiled in 1995, having been paid for by public subscription.

To me, in Weary Dunlop, you see the best of human devotion by the application of his ethic, skills, leadership and compassion. He was of what I call that 'grand generation'. Born before the First World War, tempered by the Depression and another bloody War and achieved a long, prosperous and enduring peace. In his actions, Dunlop promoted the true sense of Civic. His were a life well lived and by this enabled many others to achieve similar devotions.

To read more this remarkable Australian, I suggest obtaining a copy of Sue Ebury's engrossing book 'Weary: The Life of Sir Edward Dunlop' first published in 1994 by Viking Press - 709 pp and has been continuous in print since (both as a hardcover and paperback).

To quote from Tennyson's Ulysses (which features in the book - page 539):

'I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone...
I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart ...'