1. Sir Samuel Roy Burston was an Australian soldier, physician, and horse racing identity.
61 Facts About Roy Burston
1. 2.
The son of James Burston, a prominent Melbourne soldier and businessman, Burston graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1910.
3.
Roy Burston remained Director General of Medical Services until 1948.
4.
Roy Burston was involved in thoroughbred racing both as a punter and as a racehorse owner.
5.
Roy Burston served as Chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club from 1952 until his death in 1960.
6.
Roy Burston made the W S Cox Plate the richest weight for age race in Australia, and he oversaw the construction of the Roy Burston Grandstand, which was named in his honour.
7.
Samuel Roy Burston was born in Melbourne on 21 March 1888, the fourth of seven children to James Burston, a businessman who served as Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1908 to 1910, and his wife Marianne, nee McBean.
8.
Roy Burston always preferred to be known by his first name rather than as Samuel, which was the name of his grandfather.
9.
James Roy Burston would go on to command the 7th Infantry Brigade in the Gallipoli Campaign and rise to the rank of major general.
10.
Roy Burston joined the Victorian Military Forces as a bugler in 1900, serving with them and the Australian Military Forces until 1905.
11.
Roy Burston considered a full-time military career but this was precluded by the discovery of a heart murmur.
12.
Roy Burston graduated with his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees in June 1910, and soon after his graduation he became a resident medical officer at Adelaide Children's Hospital.
13.
Roy Burston returned to Adelaide where he married Helen Elizabeth Culross on 16 April 1913 in St Michael's Anglican Church at Mitcham, South Australia.
14.
Roy Burston took up general practice in Mile End, South Australia.
15.
Roy Burston embarked for Egypt on the transport Borda on 23 June 1915.
16.
Roy Burston remained in hospital until September 1916, when he was posted to the 11th Field Ambulance, part of the 3rd Division, then training at Larkhill in England.
17.
Roy Burston moved to France with this unit on 24 November 1916.
18.
Roy Burston's citation, signed by Major General John Monash, read:.
19.
Later that month, Roy Burston was appointed senior medical officer at the Australian General Base Depot at Le Havre with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel.
20.
Roy Burston was made commander of the 1st Convalescent Depot on 18 April 1918 and of the 3rd General Hospital on 22 November 1918.
21.
Roy Burston returned to Australia aboard the Orsova on 22 November 1919.
22.
Roy Burston was promoted to major in the AAMC on 1 July 1919, lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1920, and colonel on 1 September 1921.
23.
Roy Burston assumed the post of Deputy Director of Medical Services, 4th Military District in South Australia on 1 August 1921, a post he was to hold until 12 October 1939.
24.
Roy Burston resumed as an honorary assistant physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, a post he had been appointed to in 1914.
25.
Roy Burston was a district officer of the St John Ambulance Brigade, and vice president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation.
26.
Roy Burston was honorary physician to the Governor-General from 1 July 1939 to 11 February 1943.
27.
Roy Burston was a member of the Adelaide Club, South Australian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Club.
28.
Roy Burston was a committee member of the Adelaide amateur Turf Club, and made an annual trip back to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup.
29.
Roy Burston had three children: Samuel Gerald Wood Burston became a grazier; Robin Archibald Burston became a physician like his father; and Helen Elizabeth, who married Chris Sangster, an Adelaide physician on 12 January 1939.
30.
Roy Burston officially joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 13 October 1939 with the rank of colonel, and received the serial number VX2.
31.
When I Corps was formed in April 1940, Roy Burston was appointed to its staff as Deputy Director of Medical Services.
32.
Roy Burston departed for the Middle East by Qantas flying boat along with Blamey and Brigadier Sydney Rowell on 12 June 1940, the party wearing civilian clothes as they were travelling through neutral countries.
33.
Roy Burston was promoted to Major General on 16 February 1941.
34.
Roy Burston believed in personal reconnaissance and leading from the front.
35.
Roy Burston was at the forefront of providing the medical arrangements for Operation Compass.
36.
Roy Burston attempted, in the face of equipment shortages, to anticipate medical problems and so far as possible to prevent or avoid them.
37.
Roy Burston dispatched Major Ian Murray Mackerras to investigate fly breeding in order to prevent an outbreak of diarrhoea.
38.
Roy Burston gave Mackerras a free hand to tackle hygiene problems.
39.
Roy Burston exclaimed in spontaneous surprise at this unhesitating acceptance of important proposals.
40.
In July 1941, Roy Burston reported that Australians on leave in Cairo from the Siege of Tobruk were underweight, and expressed doubts that the 9th Division might have the physical stamina to resist an attack.
41.
Roy Burston was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 14 April 1942; his citation, written by Blamey, read:.
42.
Since the inception of the AIF in October 1939, Major General Roy Burston has held the senior medical appointment in the AIF.
43.
Roy Burston has been responsible for the organisation, training and administration of the medical services of the AIF in their entirety.
44.
Roy Burston departed the Middle East for Batavia on 22 January 1942.
45.
Roy Burston narrowly avoided capture when it fell, departing on the Orcades on 21 February 1942.
46.
On 8 May 1942, Roy Burston became DGMS at GHQ, which soon became Land Headquarters.
47.
Roy Burston made numerous visits to the front in Papua-New Guinea, during September, November and December 1942, July 1943, and June 1944.
48.
On his visit to Papua in September 1942, Blamey asked Roy Burston to intercede with Rowell, the relationship between Blamey and Rowell having broken down as a result of the Rowell's supersession by Blamey on the orders of General Douglas MacArthur and Prime Minister John Curtin.
49.
Roy Burston was returning to Australia when the war ended.
50.
Roy Burston was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1944.
51.
Roy Burston became Chief Commissioner of St John Ambulance Australia in March 1945, serving until 1957, after which he became Receiver-General of the Priory in Australia.
52.
Roy Burston became an Honorary Physician to the King in August 1945, and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
53.
Criticism of the medical arrangements, which Roy Burston felt might lead to the force being prematurely withdrawn, led to Roy Burston being publicly rebuked by the Army Minister, Cyril Chambers.
54.
Roy Burston retired as DGMS and from the Army in 1948, handing over to Kingsley Norris.
55.
Roy Burston served as honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps from 1952 to 1957.
56.
Rather than resume his medical practice in Adelaide, Roy Burston chose to remain in Melbourne.
57.
Roy Burston was a medical advisor to the Australian Red Cross and National Mutual Life Association.
58.
In retirement, Roy Burston enjoyed playing golf and tennis, and was involved in thoroughbred racing, both as a punter and as a racehorse owner.
59.
Roy Burston died at his home in South Yarra from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on 21 August 1960.
60.
Roy Burston was survived by his daughter Elizabeth, who was married to Dr Christopher Sangster, an Adelaide physician, and his sons Samuel, a pastoralist in the Western District of Victoria, and Robin, a physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide.
61.
Roy Burston's remains were cremated at the Springvale Crematorium, and his ashes were placed with those of Helen, who had died in 1958, in the gardens there.