Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

MOTTERAM Reginald MB BS BSc FRACP FRCPA

1914-2011

Reginald Motteram was born, on 19th December 1914, in Adelaide. He was the younger son of Philip Motteram and his wife Lillian Louise, nee Thomas.  Motteram was educated at Scotch College, and studied science and medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating BSc in 1934 and MB BS 1939. He played intervarsity hockey 1934-1938 and was awarded a Hockey Blue. He married Selma Alice Mayfield on 5th October 1940, in St John’s church, Adelaide.  She was the only child of Mr and Mrs WR Mayfield of Hutt Street, Adelaide. Her matron of honour was Mrs Lynette Goode, and his groomsmen were Captain Mervyn Gold and Captain Philip Goode, both of A Coy 2/8th FdAmb.  He undertook a shortened residency at the RAH after his graduation.

Motteram enlisted in the AAMC, as a captain, in May 1940 and transferred to the 2/AIF, on 24th July 1940, and was posted to B Coy 2/8th FdAmb.  He was attached to 2/3rd Machine Gun Battery until October 1940. He then returned to 2/8th FdAmb, for deployment to the Middle East in December 1940, where he served in the Cyrenaica campaign.  B Coy 2/8 FdAmb was sent west and south down the Gulf of Sirte to Marsa Brega and then El Agheila.   It then withdrew to Slonta in the Afrika Korps offensive, dealing with many casualties.  B Coy then travelled east by-passing the German Derna ambush and went overland to Tobruk.   During the Siege of Tobruk, Motteram was detached for short periods as RMO 2/13th Bn in June 1941, MO 2/4th AGH in September 1941 and RMO 2/48th Bn in November 1941.  For his services, he was Mentioned in Dispatches. Motteram returned to Australia in February 1942 and was posted NORFORCE as RMO 2/4th Bn, 19 Bde, 6 Div.  He was posted as pathologist 2/5th AGH in Port Moresby, PNG, in October 1942.  He was detached 2/11th AGH in November 1942, and 2/9th AGH in January 1943 and promoted to major, in April 1943. He returned to Australia, in February 1944, and was unfit for duty for several months because of illness.  He was posted as a pathologist to 105 AMH, Daw Park, Adelaide, from April 1944 until April 1946, when he was discharged and placed on the Reserve of Officers, resigning his commission in 1961.

Motteram moved to Melbourne and was a fellow in the Clinical Research Unit at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute from 1948 to 1951.  He was then appointed a pathologist at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne from 1951 to 1952.  Motteram became a Nuffield Fellow at Imperial College of Medicine, London, in 1953. He passed the exams for the MRACP in 1954 and then advanced to FRACP in 1966.  He had been appointed FRCPA in 1956. Subsequently, he was the Director of Pathology at the Peter McCallum Cancer Institute from 1953 until 1978. He undertook part time work in pathology after 1978 at the Austin Hospital and in private practice in Geelong and Melbourne. In retirement he lived in Barwon Heads, Victoria. Reginald Motteram died in 2011; his wife had predeceased him. He was survived by his three sons, all graduates of Melbourne University. Two were engineers and one a radiologist.

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