Sydney Fancourt McDonald

Last updated

Sydney Fancourt McDonald (1885-1947) was an Australian physician and military doctor. He was the first paediatrician within the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Queensland.

Contents

Early life

Sydney Fancourt McDonald was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 18 November 1885. He was the son of a Scottish surveyor George McDonald and his wife Amelia. He was educated at Rocklea State School [1] and Brisbane Boys Grammar School, a contemporary of John Lavarack and S.A. Roe. He won a scholarship to attend the University of Melbourne where he lived in residence at Trinity College while he studied medicine, taking his MB in 1909, BS in 1910 and MD in 1913. He was appointed to Queen's Memorial Infectious Disease and Alfred Hospitals and was assistant senior resident surgeon at the Children's Hospital from 1912-1914. He travelled to England in 1914 to take up postgraduate study and was a resident medical officer at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. [2]

Military service

McDonald first served in the Australian Militia Engineers in 1904. [3] From 1910 he was an officer with the Melbourne University Rifles. He enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914 while he was in England and was posted to the 4th (British) General Hospital at Versailles, France. He was a conscientious teacher instructing VAD staff working in the hospitals in the basics of medical care. [1] He served as an anaesthetist and radiographer at the hospital, and later the 33rd and 51st casualty clearing stations and 46th stationary hospital. He was mentioned in despatches in 1916. [2]

Return to Australia

Following the war McDonald worked in a number of English hospitals treating ex-servicemen suffering from post-war disorders. [2] [4] He completed his M.F.C.P in London in 1919. [1] McDonald returned to Australia in 1920, taking up a position at the Repatriation Hospital in Lutwyche assisting ex-servicemen and an honorary position at the Children's Hospital in Brisbane specialising in childhood diseases and disorders. [1] [5] He lobbied to have lead paint removed from use in homes and backyards due to the poison risk it created for children. [1] [6] He treated patients with poliomyelitis. [7] In 1927, McDonald encouraged other physicians to set up practice in Craigston, an apartment building in Brisbane which combined consultation spaces with private apartments. [8] [9] In 1928, he was appointed a medical consultant to the RAAF and Civil Aviation Unit in Brisbane. [10] He was a licensed pilot and was able to give advice on pilot fatigue and aviation issues in a medical capacity. [1] [11] He also continued in private practice.

World War II

McDonald served in New Guinea during World War II assisting with medical problems associated with tropical conditions. [12]

Memberships

Legacy

McDonald's health began to fail during 1944. [1] He died on 8 August 1947. [14] He was survived by his second wife Jean [15] [16] and a large extended family. A keen photographer and film maker, his photographs, particularly of Heron Island, and other papers are held in the University of Queensland Fryer Library. [17] A biography of McDonald entitled, The highest traditions: a biography of Sydney Fancourt McDonald was published in 1985.

Related Research Articles

The Telegraph was an evening newspaper published in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first published on 1 October 1872 and its final edition appeared on 5 February 1988. In its day it was recognised as one of the best news pictorial newspapers in the country. Its Pink Sports edition was a particularly excellent production produced under tight deadlines. It included results and pictures of Brisbane's Saturday afternoon sports including the results of the last horse race of the day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Annand</span> Australian artist (1903–1976)

Douglas Shenton Annand was an Australian graphic designer and artist.

Bishop Island was an island near the mouth of the Brisbane River in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Revell</span> Australian speedcar driver

Raymond Stephen Henry Revell (9 March 1911 – 18 November 1968) is recognized as one of Australia's most respected speedcar (midget) drivers. He was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Marks</span> Australian ophthalmologist and geologist

Edward Oswald Marks, was an Australian ophthalmologist. He studied first as a geologist, and then began a second career as an ophthalmologist. His work on preventing trachoma in children was significant in reducing eye disease in remote communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Campbell-Brown</span>

Kathleen Campbell-Brown (1903–1996) was a lecturer in French at the University of Queensland for almost 30 years.

June Halliday AM is a biochemist and researcher of liver disease and iron metabolism. She is a pioneer in the use of serum ferritin and liver iron concentration as diagnostic aids for studying haemochromatosis.

Otto Saddler Hirschfeld (1898–1957) was an Australian medical practitioner, academic and university chancellor.

Franz Konrad Saddler Hirschfeld CBE (1904–1987) was an Australian medical practitioner and surgeon. He pioneered thoracic surgeries in Australia. He became a university academic, administrator and medical historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Stevenson Abbott</span> Australian nursing sister and army matron

Joan Stevenson (Judy) Abbott was an Australian World War II army hospital matron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane</span> Demolished building in Brisbane, Queensland

Her Majesty's Theatre was a theatre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, between 1888 and 1983. It opened as Her Imperial Majesty's Opera House on 2 April 1888, and was known as His Majesty's Theatre between 1901 and 1952. The largest theatre in Brisbane, it was located at 193 Queen Street. Its façade was in the Italian Renaissance and Corinthian style.

Peter Newell (1916–2010) was an Australian architect, who worked in the modernist tradition in Queensland and became an architectural critic.

Vitaly de Gzell (1908-1977) was a Russian-Australian architect, who practised in Queensland in the modernist tradition.

Frank Cullen was an Australian architect, who designed over 200 churches, school, monasteries, convents and other church related buildings in Queensland and Northern New South Wales, Australia

Dance Halls of Brisbane in the twentieth century were popular venues for entertainment, socialising and reflected styles of music, architecture, popular culture and city planning.

Helen Haenke (1916–1978) was an Australian artist, poet and playwright whose work was part of an emerging literary community in south-east Queensland in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Charles Da Costa (1889–1974) was an Australian architect known for his work as a railway architect in Queensland. He specialised in reinforced concrete and structural steel designs.

Donald Cowen was an Australian-American artist, sculptor and scientific illustrator, whose work is featured in buildings and galleries in Australia and the United States.

Melville Haysom (1900-1968) was an Australian artist, sculptor, instructor and musician. He specialised in portrait, coastal and animal paintings and alternated between impressionist and abstract styles. His work is held in galleries in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.

Roy Philip Parkinson was an Australian artist, known for his watercolour paintings. His works are collected in a number of Australian galleries.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Foott, Bethia (14 October 1953). "Portrait of an Australian doctor". The Bulletin.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pearn, John H., "McDonald, Sydney Fancourt (1885–1947)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 4 December 2019
  3. ↑ "MILITARY FORCES OF THE COMMONWEALTH". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973). 25 June 1904. p. 487. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  4. ↑ ""WAR HEROES"". Workers' Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1923 - 1939). 13 September 1929. p. 3. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "Starving Go To Hospital". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 22 March 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "DENIES LEAD POISONING HAS DISAPPEARED HERE". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 17 September 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. ↑ "MENTAL DEFECTIVES". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 18 January 1934. p. 13. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Advertising". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 6 September 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  9. ↑ "Historic Brisbane apartment hasn't changed in 90 years". homes.nine.com.au. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. ↑ "WICKHAM TERRACE SPECIALIST DEAD". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 9 August 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. ↑ "ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973). 8 April 1937. p. 634. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. ↑ "Warning of Epidemic Dangers". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954). 7 October 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. ↑ "FULL REFRESHER MEDICAL COURSE". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 29 January 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. ↑ "Family Notices". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 8 August 1947. p. 7. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. ↑ "Death of Mrs. S. F. McDonald". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 28 October 1940. p. 12. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. ↑ "WEDDINGS". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 19 December 1941. p. 7. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. ↑ "Sydney Fancourt McDonald Papers - Fryer Manuscripts". manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.