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WYLLIE Geoffrey Gurner MB BS FRCS FRACS

1923-1989

Geoffrey Gurner Wyllie was born on the 16th May 1923 at Marian Place, Prospect, South Australia. He was the younger son of Kenneth Robert Wyllie MC and Maud Hoban, nee Gurner. His father, who had been born in Adelaide, was the founder of the insurance assessing firm K R Wyllie and Co Pty Ltd and had been educated at Kyre College (now Scotch College) Adelaide and King’s College, London. He had served in 55 Bn AIF in World War 1, had been awarded a Military Cross; he had been severely wounded in action in France. His mother, a registered nurse, trained at the Adelaide Hospital and graduated in 1916. She travelled to London and worked in a Military Hospital caring for many of the war casualties. Wyllie’s primary schooling was at King’s College, Adelaide (now Pembroke School). This was followed by St Peter’s College (1932-40) where he won his house colours and was a prefect in Da Costa House. He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide commencing from 1941 and graduated MB BS in 1946. Wyllie’s elder brother, Robert Kenneth Wyllie, also graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide.  He later married and moved to Melbourne to work at the Prince Alfred Hospital. His brother served with a civilian medical and surgical team in Vietnam.

After his resident medical officer year at the RAH, Wyllie joined the AAMC. He was posted, as a temporary major with BCOF in Japan. He served in 130 AGH, in Kure, from 1947 until 1949. He was issued with the Australian Service Medal 1945-1975.

Returning from Japan Wyllie served as registrar in the radiotherapy department at the RAH before moving to the department of Surgery as house surgeon, senior surgical registrar and then assistant to the Director of Surgical Studies under Sir Leonard Lindon, Sir Philip Messent and Mr Alan Britten-Jones before travelling to London in 1952. He worked at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, from 1952 to 1957, initially as a house surgeon then senior surgical registrar and then surgical research fellow. He passed the FRCS while there and pursued a career in paediatric surgery under Sir Denis Browne, D J Waterton and Sir David Innes Williams. He returned to Adelaide in 1956 and, after a brief period as a senior surgical registrar at the ACH, he was appointed to the consultant staff and the same year he gained his FRACS. He remained on the paediatric surgical staff at the ACH from 1957 until ill health forced his retirement in 1987.  He was one of the first paediatric surgeons to return to Australia after extensive training overseas and established specialist paediatric surgery as a discipline in Adelaide.

Wyllie was a charming, gentle man with an enviable medical style and meticulous technique. Wyllie held a large number of senior appointments which included chairman of the ACH medical staff (1966-1978), member of the ACH Board of Management (1964-1978), consulting surgeon at the QVMH, chairman of the RACS SA State committee, a member of the RACS court of examiners (1967-1977), President of the Australian College of Paediatrics (1980-1982), President of the Australian Association of Paediatric Surgeons (1980-1982) and Chairman of the SA Committee, Australian College of Nursing (1959-1965). He was also the chairman of the SA Division of the Australian Red Cross Society (1979-1983) and subsequently a life member of the Australian Red Cross Society. He contributed to the medical literature with a number of papers in peer reviewed and prestigious journals. Ill health forced him into early retirement and interrupted his retirement plans. Wyllie had married Dr Patricia Verco Warhurst, in 1966, which was the year of her graduation, MB BS, from the University of Adelaide.  They had two daughters Catherine and Elizabeth and a son Andrew. He played golf and tennis regularly; he attended a weekly woodwork course for many years and was an accomplished maker of many pieces of furniture for his family. Geoffrey Gurner Wyllie died on 17th July 1989. He was survived by his wife Patricia and their three children.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears II: Medical Practitioners of South Australia on Active Service After World War 2 to Vietnam 1945-1975.

Summers, Swain, Jelly, Verco

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD