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SMITH Keith Viner MB BS FRCPA FRACP FRCPATH

1915-2006

Keith Viner Smith was born in Adelaide on 18th April 1915. Like his brother he used his surname as Viner Smith during his life. He was the son of Cuthbert Viner Smith, a member of the Stock Exchange of Adelaide, and Edith Josephine, nee Gardner, and was one of three siblings. Smith was educated at St Peter’s College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating MB BS in 1939. He enjoyed rowing at both school and university. He started his resident year at the RAH, in 1940, but joined the Army before completing the year.

Smith enlisted in the AAMC, as a captain on 30th June 1940.  He was unmarried and named his father as his next of kin. His first posting, on active service in the 2/AIF, was to 2/6th FdAmb on 30th August 1940.  He was granted leave before going to 3MD Victoria, for training and subsequent posting to the Middle East.  Smith arrived in Palestine on 31st January 1941. He spent a short time with 2/4th FdAmb but re-joined his unit 2/6th FdAmb in February 1941 and followed by attachment to 2/27th Bn as an RMO. Evacuation of patients was often slow and tortuous due to the rugged terrain.  He found on one occasion, when collecting casualties, it took five hours to travel two miles. He left the Middle East for Australia, via Bombay, India, arriving in Adelaide, on 25th March 1942. During his time back in Australia he was posted to the 2/9th AGH, in preparation for service in PNG. Appointed now to 11 FdAmb as a company commander, he arrived in Port Moresby, PNG on 23rd May 1943, and was promoted to major on 2nd December 1943. He served on the Kokoda Track and was Mentioned in Despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the South West Pacific Area, on 23rd December 1943. Evacuated to 2/2nd AGH with phlebitis of his right leg in May 1944, and evacuated to 2/14 AGH, in Australia, in June of that year. Over the next month, he was transferred to 112 AGH, 115 AGH and finally 105 AGH in Adelaide.  His phlebitis now was considered to be Beurgers Disease, which is an inflammatory and clotting vascular disease affecting the extremities and can lead to ulcers and gangrene. His condition prevented him from further service and, after transfer to Kantara Convalescent Home, in May 1945, and he was placed on the Reserve of Officers, on 25th June 1945.

Smith moved to Sydney following the war; he gained a Teaching Fellowship in Pathology, at the University of Sydney from 1945 to 1947. He married Elaine Alabaster, on 7th September 1946.  She was the daughter of Walter Henry Alabaster and Gladys Esther Alabaster, of Canterbury, Victoria. He became a senior lecturer from 1948 to 1950, and associate professor from 1962 until 1964. Concurrently, from 1950, he was assistant morbid anatomist at the Royal North Shore Hospital and then the senior morbid anatomist from 1964.  He became Director of Clinical Pathology at the Royal North Shore Hospital from 1966 until his retirement in 1980. During his time at the Royal North Shore Hospital, he developed an interest in thyroid disease. He was known to be a tall dignified and courteous man with a keen sense of humour and much respected by his students. In his later years, he enjoyed gardening, photography music and the theatre. Sadly, in 1993, he contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome which left him a paraplegic and then some years later he had a stroke.  He moved to a nursing home in Canberra to be near his daughter. Keith Viner Smith died on the 9th September 2006, survived by his daughter and two grandsons. His wife, Ruth, had died in 1997.

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