Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Ballarat & District in the Great War

Australia developed quickly following the gold rushes of the 1850’s. Opportunities opened the country further encouraging expanded immigration. The decision of Nathaniel Dane to emigrate with his family to Australia was to have a far-reaching impact on their new country, far beyond anything he could ever have imagined.

The family of Nathaniel Morrison Dane originated in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. His marriage to Anne “Annie” Stinson was celebrated in Belfast on 4 February 1869. It seemed that they had fully intended to live out their lives in the city, for it was there that their five children were all born. The youngest of their children, Albert Greig Dane (later to be known as Paul), was born on 21 January 1881. He was just a small boy when the choice was made to emigrate to Australia.

Seemingly there are no available shipping records to accurately establish when the Dane family arrived in Victoria. The earliest indication that they were in Melbourne came with tenders being called for in September 1888 by a local architect. Nathaniel also quickly secured a position as a commercial traveller with Melbourne company, Paterson, Laing and Bruce.

Each of the Dane children was destined to forge careers in different areas that would take them to all corners of the world. The only daughter, Norah, became a prominent opera singer who performed across Europe. The eldest son, John Stephenson, conducted interests in the Spanish sulphur mines from his London office. James Dane pursued a career in South Africa and Norman Haskins Dane worked in banking. But it was Paul who was to leave the most vivid mark.

In 1896, Paul was enrolled at the Caulfield Grammar School. He soon earned the undignified nickname of “Chuck” – he also showed that he had a distinct aptitude for study that would eventually see him become one of Caulfield Grammar’s most celebrated alumni.

Life wasn’t always easy for the young lad. In July 1899, whilst he was attending a football match between Australian Rules clubs Trinity and South Beach, Paul was set on by another supporter. He was seriously assaulted, being punched and kicked during the affray, and the case ended up in the St Kilda Court. Costs were awarded to the defendant, but Nathaniel Dane was less than impressed with how his son was depicted in newspaper reports.

To the Editor of "The Herald."
Your reporter, in the case of Albert Greig Dane (plaintiff) against William Wilson (defendant), at the St. Kilda Court to-day, represents my son as being assaulted only by Wilson, and then running away like the veriest coward from the ruffian, while the evidence of an eye witness distinctly stated that he was one only of a large crowd, who first struck him, the rest rushing upon him like wild beasts, kicking him when down and Jumping upon his chest. Had my boy only had the larrikin to do with, he would have made short work of him, but had to fly from the cowardly throng, to save bis life. Trusting that you will see fair play given to a lad that wears Her Majesty’s uniform,— I am. etc..
N. DANE, '

In 1901, Albert Greig Dane was enrolled at the University of Melbourne to begin studying medicine. As a student in the largest of the university’s residential colleges, Ormond, Paul was thrust into a high-pressure world of enormous expectations.

The first two years proved no obstacle to his voracious mind, and passes were announced in the Melbourne newspapers on 28 November 1901 and 2 December 1902. However, an incident on 7 March 1903 that appeared to be totally out of character, showed that there was either more going on in the background than was apparent, or he was just as susceptible to the struggles of the young as any other ordinary youth.

On 20 February 1903, Paul (still known as Albert at this time), had consumed a large quantity of colonial beer – ten glasses to be precise – and was in a clearly intoxicated condition when he accosted John Septimus Cummins and a young lady friend on the streets of Elwood. Paul was alleged to have brandished a revolver and demanded, “Give me sixpence for a drink.” Enforcing this with, “Come on, quick, or I’ll blow your brains out.” Cummins offered to give him a shilling, but Paul oddly said he only wanted a sixpence.

The episode resulted in Paul being charged with something approaching ‘robbery under arms’. He had also discharged the weapon in the direction of a Samuel George Walsh. The two incidents resulted in Paul Dane being sent to trial, even though Mr Cummins had not wished to press charges. The young medical student apologised for his conduct, but he was still found guilty of carrying loaded firearms without permission from the local authority. He was fined 10-shillings, but no presentment was filed against him.

It seems this entire incident was particularly strange. He had presented himself in court as a ‘tall, well-dressed young man,’ and there were to be no repeats of his behaviour at any stage throughout his life.

Quickly back on track, Paul passed his 3rd Year examinations in December and then the following year, on 30 November, it was announced that he had successfully completed his 4th year. It seems that he chose to change his name officially at this time so that the formal conferring of his degree of Bachelor of Medicine would bear the name Paul Greig Dane.

In December 1905, it was pronounced that he was legally qualified to practice medicine. Paul continued to study, however, and in April 1906, he received Third Class Honours in Obstetrics and Diseases of Women through and a Bachelor of Surgery through Trinity College. This was a significant time for the University, which was celebrating its Jubilee year.

On 26 June 1906, Paul took up the post of house surgeon at the Launceston General Hospital.

Within a year he was back in Melbourne and working as the resident medical officer at St Vincent’s Hospital in Fitzroy.

His standing in the community continued to rise when, on 2 December 1908, it was announced that he had been appointed by the Melbourne Municipal Council as the assistant officer of health on a significant minimum salary of £200 a year, with a stipulation that it could not be increased to more than £400.

In a ceremony held in June 1909, the Degree of Medicine was conferred on Paul Dane by the Chancellor of University of Melbourne, Sir John Madden. The same month he was appointed as honorary clinical medical assistant to outpatients at the Melbourne Hospital, later to become the Royal Melbourne.

As the end of 1910 approached, Paul Dane branched out into an entirely new phase of his life. On 5 November it was advertised that he had purchased the Victoria Street practice, which had belonged to the late Dr Henry Salmon, one of Ballarat’s most respected medical practitioners. With the intention of taking up full time practice in Ballarat, Paul tendered his resignation as clinical pathologist at the Alfred Hospital on 28 November.

Then, at the Holy Trinity Church in Williamstown, on 7 December, Paul Dane married Ruth Winifred Parker.

In a description reminiscent of the period, it was said that ‘…The bride, who looked very girlish and sweet, was given away by her father. She wore a beautiful white crepe de chine dress, the bodice being inlet with some fine old lace, the skirt, with a train, draped and caught at the side with silver roses; her veil was quaintly arranged in a Kate Greenaway style, the cap having a wreath of orange blossom and heather around ; she carried a small posy of lilies of the valley and white moss rose buds, tied with satin ribbon…’

The newlyweds made their home in the sprawling house and surgery at 38 Victoria Street in the Bakery Hill area. Within walking distance was St Paul’s Anglican Church, where Paul and Ruth soon became members of the congregation.
Some time ago I wrote a piece about Paul Dane’s groom, Bert Brudenall. Their relationship is, I believe, somewhat significant in what was to later become the doctor’s main area of medical focus.

In 1911, Bert Brudenell began working as a groom for Paul Dane. He would drive the doctor to cases and care for the horse kept at the rear of the property at 28 Victoria Street, Ballarat East. Bert also lived on the premises.

A nasty accident on 12 February 1912, must have had a deep impact on both Bert and his employer. Bert was driving the doctor’s gig along Armstrong Street, when a 10 year-old lad, named Maurice Hind, who was riding downhill on a wobbly bicycle, veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with the side of the gig.

Initially, Doctor Dane believed the boy was miraculously unhurt. However, it seems that the wheel of the gig actually went over the boy causing internally injuries. At an inquest it was confirmed that Bert had done everything possible to avoid the collision. The death would have been tragic for all involved. No doubt, Paul Dane felt a protective bond towards his young groom.

When, inexplicably, Bert stole from his employer, the case made the local newspapers and could have ended the young man’s future. On 20 August 1913, he was arrested for stealing the practice cash box, which contained money and cheques that amounted to £24/10. The detectives discovered the box buried in the yard; it still contained £18. Bert immediately admitted to the theft, but at no time was there any indication as to why he had committed the crime.

In court, the 20 year-old appeared respectfully and well-dressed. He was found guilty and was facing six months imprisonment, when Paul Dane spoke up for him. He gave evidence as to the young man’s previous good character, and testified that Bert had already worked off the missing money. But it was Dane’s willingness to take him back as his groom if he was given another chance, that seems to have swayed the judge in his final ruling. Bert was placed on a bond of £25, and 12-months’ probation.

Dane’s faith in Bert Brudenell was proved to be well founded.
Switching from a horse-drawn vehicle to a motorcar, Dane gave Bert the opportunity to study mechanics while continuing to work as his chauffeur.

The young man also began to develop a particularly fine classical singing voice. He worshipped at St Paul’s Church of England, Bakery Hill, alongside Paul and Ruth Dane, where it is likely that his voice first drew favourable attention.

During the years leading up to the Great War, Paul and Ruth welcomed the arrival of three children – Paul Hamilton O’Hara, Gabrielle “Gay”, and Charmian. All were born at home in Victoria Street.

Paul was also actively involved with the local military units, and on 19 February 1912 he was appointed to the rank of provisional captain with the Australian Army Medical Corps Reserve. The rank was confirmed the following year on 21 June. He was then appointed as the Medical Officer for the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance in Area 71B (Ballarat) on 1 January 1914.

With the need for doctors in the frontline, many local men left their practices to join the colours. Paul Dane applied for a commission in the AIF on 22 March 1915. He was passed medically fit – he stood 5-feet 11-inches tall, weighed 10-stone 7-pounds and could expand his chest to 37½-inches. His eyesight was also normal. With his years of military training and medical qualifications, his application was accepted immediately. He was recommended to the 6th Field Ambulance under the command of another Ballarat physician, Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. W. Hardy, and gazetted with the rank of major.

Following an interim period in Melbourne, Paul finally embarked for Egypt onboard the troopship Ajana, departing on 4 June. A little over a month later, he disembarked at the port of Alexandria.

Paul Dane arrived at Gallipoli early in September. For nearly two months he worked tirelessly in the hospital and clearing stations on the beaches of ANZAC. However, being exposed to all manner of pathogens and unsanitary conditions inevitably led to a breakdown in his health. He was admitted to the 6th Field Ambulance on 23 October suffering from diarrhoea and rheumatism. From there he was transferred to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Mudros (on the island of Lemnos) and from there he was invalided to England.
Clearly, he was very unwell. A medical report dated 24 November, revealed that he had suffered from dysentery for six weeks and was diagnosed with lumbago. He was weak, underweight and unable to walk any great distance. At the time he was a patient at the No17 Park Lane Hospital in Mayfair, London.

By the end of December, he had recovered from the bout of dysentery, but was still troubled by rheumatic pains in his back and down both legs. He was still 7-pounds under his usual weight.

After a month’s leave, Paul returned to Egypt on 13 February 1916. He sailed from Southampton onboard the transport Marama and arrived back in Alexandria on 27 February. Communications to Ruth Dane and items published in prominent newspapers, caused some irritation. In a letter to Headquarters of the 3rd Military District, dated 7 March 1916, the issue became clear:

‘…Dear Colonel Cuscaden, An intimation came to me this morning saying Lieut P. G. Dane was unfit for service from the 29/12/15. I have had two cables from him since that date one saying he was leaving for Egypt to rejoin the Ambulance & another cable was sent from Alexandria saying he had arrived safely on February the 27th.

In all the communications I have received from the Base Records they call my husband Lieutenant. I wrote to them about it, but it appeared in each of the Melbourne papers & people think he has lost his rank &it hurts me very much as he was a Major in Ballarat before the War started.
Hoping you will see that they correct it & forgive me for trespassing on your time…’

She had also written previously to Capt Dean at Base Records and said her husband was ‘very cross about it.’
Initially, Paul was appointed as pathologist to the No1 Australian General Hospital in Helipolis, but it wasn’t long before he suffered a relapse of the dysentery that had curtailed his campaign at Gallipoli. He was admitted to the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital at Tel-el-Kebir on 16 May with a diagnosis of colitis. On transfer to the 3rd AGH in Abbassia two days later, he was re-diagnosed as suffering from dysentery. As the condition became chronic, he also developed toxic myositis, causing pain throughout his muscles.

A Medical Board held at Alexandria on 4 July, determined that Paul Dane was unfit for duty for at least six months and that he should be invalided to Australia for what was termed a “change”. It was hoped that rest, a cooler climate and regular food would improve his health. He embarked the following day at Port Suez onboard the hospital ship Karoola.

It seems, however, that after arriving back in Melbourne in early August, Paul quickly decided that his life on active service was finished. His appointment with the AIF was terminated on 30 August. He also relinquished the practice in Ballarat and moved his family back to the suburbs of his youth. Nevertheless, he continued to serve his country. During 1917 he acted as medical officer attached to the Town Hall Recruiting Depot. He then practiced at the 5th Australian General Hospital in St Kilda Road caring for men returned from the Front. During that period, he was granted the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was also appointed as an acting lecturer in Histology at the University of Melbourne.

With the conclusion of the war there came a new scourge – the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Medical staff struggled to cope with the massive numbers of cases. Paul Dane was at the forefront,

‘…Sir, - The theatrical profession is still protesting against the apparent injustice of closing the theatres, and other places of entertainment whilst the influenza epidemic is raging. I wish to suggest to the Health administration a method of procedure that would, instead of throwing a large body of people out of work, allow the entertainments to go on, but use the theatres and picture shows as places of propaganda in reference to the influenza epidemic. In many of the large cities of the United States, the places of entertainment were not closed, except, perhaps, the smallest ones, but at each theatre, &c,; a short lecture was given by a medical man or officer of the Public Health department during the interval or before the first act. The lecturer briefly told the salient features of the epidemic, and impressed on the audience the necessity for preventive measures, &c. In addition, notices were posted all over the theatre requesting persons who coughed or sneezed to leave the building.

These measures were regarded by many leading medical men as being of far greater value than merely closing all these places. Lantern slides could also be used with great advantage between the acts, showing on the curtain figures and facts about the epidemic. These measures could result in a great dissemination of knowledge; and would not do an injury to any class.

Many medical men I am sure, would volunteer for this small service. I might also point out that a view is largely held in America that the epidemic is spread by hand to mouth infection, and especially by dishes that are used by different people and all washed together, as may happen in many cafes, restaurants, &c. Thus it behoves the inspectors and the various health authorities to be particularly vigilant in their supervision of eating-houses at present, and private individuals ought to see that all dishes are washed in at least two lots of boiling water.-Yours, &c.,
PAUL. G. DANE.
80 Collins street. April 2 (1919)…’

After the purchase of a 12½ acre property in Brighton, the Repatriation Department opened the ANZAC Hostel on 5 July 1919. The aim was to provide a comfortable and less institutional style of care for permanently disabled veterans of the war. Paul Dane performed medical and surgical duties during the early years of the hostel. He was on the staff when Edward, Prince of Wales, visited the hostel on 5 June 1920.

The same year, Paul was also appointed as acting city health officer, and one of his major concerns was the insanitary conditions of the streets and the desperate need to exterminate rats.

A particularly bright spot for the family, however, was the birth of the Dane’s final child, Winsome, on 13 Sep 1922, at 195 St Kilda Street, Brighton.

These early years following the end of the Great War saw Paul Dane’s medical focus shift dramatically. Seeing large numbers of men mentally traumatised by their wartime experiences encouraged him to investigate the newest branch of medicine – psychotherapy. Working under the direction of Dr Clarence Godfrey, soon discovered the usefulness of psychoanalysis in the treatment of war neuroses.

In her interesting biography of Paul Dane, Christine Brett Vickers wrote,

‘…Ostensibly based on his work with returned soldiers from 1921, his haunting piece ‘Notes on psychoanalysis of war neuroses’ was published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 1927. For young Edwardian men schooled into widening the gap between emotional experience and social expectation the groans of wounded and dying soldiers calling for mother from no-man’s land was extremely disturbing. Soldiers caught in this new technological war, who survived constant, incessant shelling described it as hell on earth as battle tore apart bodies and minds. Dane wrote how, upon being wounded or shelled, ‘the moment of shock, before amnesia set in featured thoughts of the mother’. The rocking of the train ‘carrying one out of the field’, he continued, could be thought about in terms of the comfort of the ‘feeding relationship between mother and infant’…’

As early as 30 March 1923, his Freudian views on the subject were being published in local newspapers. It makes for very interesting reading…

‘…A SPECIALIST'S VIEWS.
Dr. Paul Dane, M.D., Melbourne's leading specialist on nervous disorders, makes no bones about it. He says: — 'I could not have believed that there could be such ignorance and credulity in the community had I not seen that pitiful procession to the Hickson Healing Mission. Many of them were the backwash of nature, those who are unfit to be cured, and who, if they were cured, would become a worse menace to the community than they are now. It Is no use to speak of curing an imbecile. The mind is not there to be cured. To cure these and others so that they would be the means of perpetuating their kind would be to make the last case worse than the first. They are born into the world with some structural defect, something wrong that makes them misfits of nature. It would be impossible that the Creator should have designed their perpetuation.

Then take the other class — the sufferers from hysterical and nervous diseases. They can only be cured by very patient understanding of the various forces operating to bring about that condition of nervous or hysterical unrest from which the patient is suffering. Sudden cures, it is true, are known to all of us.

Any doctor who practises suggestion by hypnotism has performed miracles and has cured immediately patients who have been under treatment for years. I myself have made a patient walk in half an hour, who had not walked for six months. I have cured a girl whose knee had been bent for years, and have enabled her to walk again. Many doctors can claim to have done similar things. The cure of this class of disease is what is called a transference. The patient is suffering from some suppressed emotion, usually sexual. If the patient can get a doctor who can make the transfer the cure is affected. It may be done by word of mouth by creating in the patient a belief or a feeling of attraction or love towards the physician. By that means the evil is taken from the patient to the physician, who is not affected. That was the method by which we read that devils were cast out of the afflicted.
It is the phenomenon by which these cures of faith healing are brought about, the phenomenon of transference of suppressed emotion. But in the case of the faith healer there is a danger. The cure is personal by the healer, but the healer departs immediately and the cured person is left without support. These persons may relapse. They do relapse, and the foundation of their cure has gone from them.

There are cures sometimes by this method in hysterical or functional cases — those cases where the illness of the patient has no known organic basis. The objection is that such cures brought about in ignorance or credulity are not understood by either the healer or the healed, and consequently can have no mental stability. The slightest doubt in the mind of the patient, and he or she will be robbed of any benefit which has been received.

The faith healer is far away, and the state of the patient in the consequent condition of relapse is worse than ever. If the patient of a physician should relapse, the physician is at hand, and may restore the belief and complete the cure. To the man dealing with nervous diseases there is, apart from any religious or other aspect, a grave danger in a healer who does not understand the process by which the patient is healed, attempting this method of cure. Is the process of the transference of these suppressed emotions does not go smoothly, the resulting condition may be the creation of a positive hatred for the healer.

If the condition is not scientifically understood and properly adjusted, grave harm may result to the patient. And there may be danger to the physician in such cases. Instances have been known in which healers have been assaulted by former patients. Those are reasons why I and many other doctors are against such missions as this. The effect upon those thousands of unfortunates who have attended buoyed with hope, and have come away disappointed, must be very bad. Only a very few have said they are benefited by this mission.

Patients of mine I know have been to it, and come away very depressed. Their apparent inability to be cured or benefited is calculated to create a feeling of hopelessness and despair. They may well ask — if God will not cure them, what they can hope for from a mere man? This is an influence which is likely in the result to militate against scientific treatment which might have been successful! Disease is the result of ignorance or breakage of laws of nature, and is the God who governs the universe by the laws of nature to set them aside in an individual case?"…’

Paul became an avid letter writer and lecturer, covering topics from reform of secondary schools and a halt to the increased costs of education to birth control and its economic impact.
The family suffered a major scare when, on 16 January 1925, Paul junior and a friend were rescued from Port Phillip Bay off Brighton when the dingy they were in capsized. Other than a decent dunking, the pair came away unscathed.

On 11 March 1927, Paul and Ruth sailed from Fremantle onboard the steamer Menes. As a member of the council of the Melbourne Zoological Society, it was announced that he was on his way to Vienna to undertake post-graduate studies in zoology. In an interview shortly before he left, Paul stated, ‘…Australians should take pride in preserving the local fauna because of its great scientific value in the study of man himself…’ Considered ‘a recognised authority upon zoology in the Eastern States’, the tour took in the zoos of many major European cities during their six-months’ sabbatical.

Whilst Paul had been in London, he had also attended a course of lectures at the Institute of Psychoanalysis and he took the opportunity to discuss the emerging ideas on the subject with people specialising in the area. By 1929, Dane was said to be ‘one of the first to have been seized by the overwhelming importance of the Freudian concepts in the understanding of neurotic and psycho-neurotic conditions.’ Whilst still grappling with the concepts, he appeared to completely understand the desperate need for a greater understanding of mental illness.

During 1931, Paul broadened his work base by establishing the first medical psychoanalytic practice in Sydney alongside his colleague, Roy Coupland Winn.

The deteriorating situation in Europe during the 1930’s resulted in a steady flow of refugees seeking asylum. Paul Dane was one of a number of medical professionals who sought help from the Australian Government for several Jewish medically trained analysts.

On 11 October 1940, having secured financial support from the daughter of a prominent pastoralist, Paul opened the Melbourne Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The Second World War was to have a personal impact on the Dane family: Paul junior served with the Royal Australian Air Force, and Charmian married Robert Matthews, a lieutenant with the United States Air Force.

The years following the war were the most difficult of Paul Dane’s life. His practice began to fail and he fell into debt and then a professional disagreement with one of his colleagues eventually caused him to stand down from the Board of the Institute.

Despite the travails, the forthright doctor continued to express his strong views on society:

"SOCIAL SERVICE CODDLING IS PERNICIOUS"
Dr Paul Dane, a psychiatrist, claimed yesterday that nothing helped to spread mental illnesses more than social services. He told the Australian Federation of Women Voters that there was nothing more pernicious than doles, benefits, and endowments. The Government's "coddling" of the people with lavish social benefits would tend to produce an emotionally unstable and immature race. On the other hand, those who worked hard and saved for themselves would become resentful and aggressive when they saw the results of their thrift given to the thriftless. A certain measure of social benefits was good, but the Government had "bolted" with the scheme, Dr Dane added.

This stance may ultimately have led to a death threat against him in December 1948, when he refused to arrange an invalid pension for a patient.

In 1949, Paul was afforded the rare honour of being made a member of the American Psychiatric Association – at that time only one other Australian psychiatrist had been honoured in such a way.

Although suffering declining health, Paul Dane continued his association with the Institute on an informal basis. Doctor Clara Geroe, one of the Jewish refugees he had actively supported in escaping Europe, was in the process of seeking recognition for his enormous contribution to psychiatric training in Australia when he died from stomach cancer on 6 October 1950.