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

John Besley Gillen was born in Alice Springs on the 31st January 1895, the second son of Mr. F. J. Gillen, who was well known for his work with the Aborigines in Central Australia, and Amelia, nee Besley, daughter of a school teacher from Mount Gambier. Members of the Besley family were serving on the overland telegraph line. Gillen’s father eventually became the Post Master of the Alice Springs Telegraph station and he was a Special Magistrate and Sub Protector of aborigines in the area. The family moved from Alice Springs to Moonta and eventually Port Pirie.  Gillen had an early education at Moonta and Port Pirie and later boarded privately in Adelaide, and gained a Government bursary whilst a student with Hugh Cairns at the Adelaide High School. Gillen and Cairns were co dux of Adelaide High School in their final year. He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide and was the recipient of both the Elder Prize and the much-coveted Dr. Davies Thomas scholarship. He graduated in MB BS in 1917.

After graduating at the University of Adelaide, Gillen joined the Royal Australian Navy on the 20th November 1917 as a temporary surgeon lieutenant in the Permanent Naval Forces serving in HMAS Cerberus until March 1918 then the cruiser HMAS Brisbane and later in the Submarine Depot Ship HMAS Platypus from 1918 to 1920. HMAS Brisbane’s complement was 31 officers and 454 sailors. The Brisbane was tasked to search for a German raider that was laying mines near the sea trade routes around Australia and New Zealand. The ship is known as the Wolf which in August 1917 captured the Matunga returning to Rabaul and retained Colonel Cecil Lucius Strangman and John Wellesley Flood as POW’s. HMAS Brisbane returned to British waters until 17th April 1919, when she departed from Portsmouth for home. During the return trip, she caught up with the submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus and the six J class submarines transferred from the Royal Navy to the RAN after the war. J5 was experiencing problems, and HMAS Brisbane took the boat under tow; the two vessels reached Sydney on the 27th June 1919. All were sold before 1929. The cruiser was decommissioned on the 4th August 1922, and Gillen transferred to the Emergency List. He was issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Gillen married Ellen McCann in 1920. After general practice in Morgan he joined Dr Tobin at Gawler, from whom he subsequently took over the practice.  Gillen stayed in practice in Gawler until 1935. He became involved with the High School council at Gawler in 1929 and was a familiar figure on the local links and a keen tennis player. He had extensive involvement with the Gawler Jockey Club. He began a practice at Tusmore, a suburb of Adelaide, on leaving Gawler in 1935. Gillen was interested in psychiatry and went to England for further study. He gained his DPM in England and was to return to South Australia in November 1937. His success led to his wife, sister of the State Agent-General in London, making the trip overseas to join her husband expecting to share some time with him before coming home. John Besley Gillen died suddenly in London on September 6th 1937, as a result of a heart attack. Their children, Robert and Pamella, were attending school in Adelaide at the time. A letter on Sept 12th 1937 from Sir Hugh Cairns at Oxford to his widow said: - Jack and I were class mates all through AHS and I know well what a sturdy and loyal man he was, it was a great pleasure to meet him here this year in London and learn of his great hopes and prospects for the future. It was characteristic of him to break away into new fields.

Sources:

Wikipedia, Navy Lists WW1,

MJA October 2nd 1937 p 563;

Photo and personal interviews with Dr R Gillen (son).