Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

VON DER BORCH Rudolph Herman MB BS DLO (CRCP&S)

1899-1971

Rudolph Von der Borch was born, at the Chain of Ponds, SA, on 15th January 1899. He was the 13th child of Leopold Friedrich Carl Gotthard Herman von der Borch, a policeman, and Sarah, nee May. Von der Borch was educated at Christian Brother’s College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1926. He undertook his residency at the Adelaide Hospital in 1927.  For the next four years, he worked in Broken Hill and District Hospital and became the senior medical officer. While there he did significant work in the diagnosis and control of lead poisoning in mine workers. Von der Borch moved to Mount Isa, QLD, in 1932, and became the first MO appointed to Mount Isa.  He returned to Broken Hill and married Lynore T Gardner on 6th April 1932. She was the daughter of Walter E and Ethel Gardner.  Her father was the Central Mine manager, in Broken Hill. After two years Von der Borch, and his wife, moved to Wau in PNG as MO to the Bulolo gold mine. He assisted colleagues in the investigation of vitamin deficiencies in the indigenous population. After a brief return to Adelaide, he travelled with his family to London for postgraduate studies gaining his DLO (RCP&S) in 1937. Returning to Adelaide, he went into private practice as an ear, nose and throat surgeon.

Von der Borch joined the AAMC, on 14th September 1941, and was given the rank of captain and placed on the Reserve of Officers. He enlisted in the AAMC on 21st July 1942 in the CMF at Keswick Barracks and was immediately called up for full-time duty.  He gave as his next of kin his wife Lynore, then living at 7 Carruth Road Torrens Park, SA. He was detached to 109 AGH on 21st July 1942 and promoted to major on 20th August 1942, with a posting to 2/5th AGH.  He transferred the 2/AIF, on 1st September 1942 and his promotion was confirmed on the same day. He moved to Alice Springs on 8th September 1942 and remained in the transport corridor to the north throughout 1943.  Although temporarily attached to 121 AGH on 28th March 1944, he was posted to 2/5th AGH, as an otologist, on 21st October 1944. Then he was detached to 113 AGH, Concord, New South Wales, on 28th November 1944. Von der Borch embarked from Sydney for Morotai, on 17th March 1945 where he joined 2/9th AGH. After nine months in the tropics, he was medically downgraded and recommended to return to a cooler climate on 26th December 1945. He arrived in Brisbane on 4th January 1946. He returned to SA LoC area, in Adelaide, and his appointment was terminated on 15th February 1946.

On return to Adelaide, von der Borch resumed his private practice. He was appointed an honorary assistant ENT surgeon at the RAH until 1951. He had begun an association with ACH, in 1937, and from 1940 to 1959 he was an honorary ENT surgeon at the ACH. He retired from public hospital work in 1959.  His clinical innovation included; protocols for the long-term intubation of sufferers of caustic oesophageal burns; treatment of maxillary sinus infections by the washouts of sinuses with indwelling polyethylene tubes, and the treatment of deafness caused by otosclerosis. Von der Borch had a lifelong deep attachment to his Catholic faith. He was an active member of the Catholic Medical Guild of St Luke. He gave his time willingly in support of families through Legacy.  He bought a small fishing shack at the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula, SA, in 1949, where he built a kitchen and boat shed. It became the favourite holiday spot for his family. He built a 28-foot seagoing yacht Allara in the backyard of his suburban house, which he raced and cruised from the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron. Increasing chronic and pulmonary and cardiac problems did not prevent him from working until a few days before his death.  Rudolph Herman von der Borch died in North Adelaide on 14th August 1971 and is interred in Centennial Park Cemetery.  His wife, Lynore, and three children Christopher, Adrian and Louise, survived him.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD