21 Facts About Weary Dunlop

Weary Dunlop attended Benalla High School for two years of his education.

Weary Dunlop started an apprenticeship in pharmacy when he finished school, and moved to Melbourne in 1927.

Weary Dunlop graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and in medicine, and excelled as a sportsman at Melbourne University and Ormond College.

Weary Dunlop rapidly progressed through the grades, to state, and then to the national representative level, becoming the first Victorian-born player to represent the Wallabies.

Weary Dunlop made his national representative debut against the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 23 July 1932 as a number 8.

Weary Dunlop had broken his nose in a head clash in the Melbourne University boxing championships on 3 August 1934, and it was broken again in the first five minutes of the match.

Weary Dunlop had been a school cadet, and he continued his part-time army service until 1929, when his service ceased under pressure from his pharmacy studies.

Weary Dunlop re-enlisted in 1935 and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps on 1 July with the rank of captain.

In May 1938 Weary Dunlop left Australia for London on a ship, where he served as her medical officer.

The distinguished medical mentors Weary Dunlop met in London, Professor Grey-Turner and Sir Thomas Dunhill, impressed him with their dedication to their job and he resolved to emulate their example.

Weary Dunlop's troopship was diverted to Java in an ill-planned attempt to bolster the defences there.

Weary Dunlop became a Japanese prisoner of war in 1942 when he was captured in Bandung, Java, together with the hospital he was commanding.

Weary Dunlop defied his captors, gave hope to the sick and eased the anguish of the dying.

Weary Dunlop's example was one of the reasons why Australian survival rates were the highest.

Weary Dunlop became, in the words of one of his men, the author Donald Stuart, "a lighthouse of sanity in a universe of madness and suffering".

Weary Dunlop is depicted in a lighter moment during these terrible times on a birthday card painted by Ashley George Old for Major Arthur Moon and now held at the State Library of Victoria.

In 1988 Weary Dunlop was named one of '200 Great Australians'.

Weary Dunlop received the posthumous honour of having the Canberra suburb of Dunlop named after him shortly after his death in 1993.

Weary Dunlop has a platoon named after him in the Army Recruit Training Centre, Blamey Barracks, Kapooka.

Weary Dunlop Platoon is a holding platoon to recruits that want to leave recruit training.

Weary Dunlop was on one of 1995 Australia Remembers 45c stamps.