Weary

King of the River

Sue Ebury

• Publisher: Miegunyah Press Digital
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780522857528
• eBook ISBN:
  9780522867275
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Military Biographies

In a wartime nightmare of starvation, disease, brutality and death, Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's courage and compassion made him an Australian legend.During more than three years as a surgeon in the notorious work camps and vast hospital camps along the Burma-Thailand railway, he worked tirelessly to save lives and get men home to their families. He confronted his captors fearlessly; three times he was tortured and taken out to be executed, only to be reprieved at the last moment. Fellow prisoners regarded him as 'a symbol of hope and a rock'.This new, illustrated biography of Weary includes more than 150 images as well as never-before-published material about his betrayal to his captors. Weary was the quintessential Australian all-rounder-brilliant student, outstanding sportsman and irrepressible larrikin who dedicated his life to caring for people.When he died in July 1993, 10 000 people stood silently to farewell the most honoured medical man in Australia. By then, this great humanitarian's influence had spread far beyond the veteran community to embrace the entire nation.

Table of contents

• WEARY
• CONTENTS
• LIST OF MAPS
• PROLOGUE
• PART ONE 1907–1939
• Chapter One FRIDAY’S CHILD
• Chapter Two GENTLEMEN OF ORMOND
• Chapter Three THE MELBOURNE
• Chapter Four JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND
• PART TWO 1940–1942
• Chapter Five SCARLET MAJOR AT THE BASE
• Chapter Six ACROSS THE WINE-DARK SEAS
• Chapter Seven GREY SHIPS WAITING
• Chapter Eight ‘SORRY, GONE TO TOBRUK’
• PART THREE 1942–1945
• Chapter Nine THE FASTEST SHIP OF THE CONVOY
• Chapter Ten INTO THE BAG
• Chapter Eleven SINGING AND GAMES FORBIDDEN
• Chapter Twelve VIA DOLOROSA
• Chapter Thirteen VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
• Chapter Fourteen STABLES FOR THE SICK
• Chapter Fifteen WE KEMPIS DO BUT DO OUR DUTY
• Chapter Sixteen ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS
• Chapter Seventeen ‘OH, INCREDIBLE DAY ! ’
• Chapter Eighteen THE RETURN OF ULYSSES
• PART FOUR 1945–1967
• Chapter Nineteen RECLAIMING THE LOST YEARS
• Chapter Twenty THE SOLACE OF SURGERY
• Chapter Twenty-one SURGEON AMBASSADOR
• PART FIVE 1967–1993
• Chapter Twenty-two THE INFLUENCE OF WEARY
• Chapter Twenty-three THE LIFELONG MISSION
• Chapter Twenty-four ALMONDS TO THOSE WHO HAVE NO TEETH
• EPILOGUE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABBREVIATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
• NOTES AND SOURCES
• SELECTED READING
• INDEX