Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Excerpt from Blood Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australian who Served in World War 1. Courtesy of the Authors

Hugo Flecker was born on 7th December 1884 at Prahran, Melbourne, Victoria third son of George Flecker and Emma, nee Ziffer.  They moved to Adelaide where his father managed the South Australian Hotel.  Flecker was educated at Prince Alfred College and initially began medicine at the University of Adelaide in 1904 but transferred to Sydney University where he graduated MB BS in 1908. He then went to England and gained his LRCP and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh in 1912. Flecker returned to Sydney and undertook several positions including as a demonstrator in anatomy at Sydney University. He was an honorary physician at the Mater Misericordia Hospital and in general practice in Neutral Bay.

Flecker joined the AAMC militia prior to WW1 as Captain and enlisted in the AIF on 20th August 1914, the first week of the war. He was attached for duty with 27 Bn. He was 30 years old, and described as a British born subject, 5ft 6ins tall, weighed 11st 6lbs.  He was recorded as single and his mother Mrs Emma Flecker is recorded as his next of kin.  However he had a girlfriend Miss Thelma Arnold, later to be his wife, in Lindfield, NSW, who was also to be notified of any changes in his circumstances. He embarked on the Ayrshire on 20th Dec 1914 and served initially with 7 LH in Egypt.  He was then transferred to 1 AGH on 16th April 1915 and proceeded to Marseilles, France and then transferred to 37 Bn in August 1916.  He was posted to the 6 FdAmb in October1916. He was promoted to major on 1st January 1916. He became ill with dermatitis in January 1917 and his mother was informed that he was in the 14th General Hospital. He returned to duty in Australia in April 1917.  He was issued with the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Almost immediately on his return to Australia Flecker married Thelma Arnold on 21st April 1917. He remained in the Reserve of Officers and commenced a practice in Temora, NSW.  He set up a practice in Collins St, Melbourne in 1921 as a radiologist and was an honorary radiologist at the Austin Hospital for Incurables.  He was also responsible for the change of name of the hospital to the Austin Hospital for Chronic Diseases. Flecker and his family moved to Cairns in Queensland in 1932 where he continued as a radiologist/radiotherapist.  He gained his diploma of Radiology in 1937 and became fellow of the Faculty of Radiology (England) in 1939. He was amongst the first Australian radiologists to employ deep X-ray therapies. Flecker was a keen naturalist renowned for his research on the effect of scorpions, snakes and marine venom on humans. His life work is commemorated in the names of a number of rare species including the world’s most poisonous creature the ‘box jellyfish’, Chironex fleckeri. Flecker continued with his military service and served during WW2 enlisting on 10th February 1942 at the age of 57 years. He was posted to 116 AGH and served throughout the Second World War in Queensland and Horn Island in the Torres Strait.  He was admitted to 116 AGH with Dengue Fever in 1942. He was transferred to the Reserve of Officers in August 1942. Flecker’s son, Patrick Oscar Flecker, also a doctor, enlisted during WW2. Flecker was a prominent Freemason and a member of Legacy.  Hugo Flecker died on the 25th June 1957 in Cairns and was survived by his wife Thelma and his son and daughter.  He was posthumously award the JP Thomson medal of the RGSA in the year of his death. The Flecker Botanic Gardens, Cairns, were named in his honour in 1971.