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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
Bruce Hunt was born in Melbourne in 1899, the son of Atlee Arthur Hunt, CMG. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and then went off to serve as a gunner in the 1914-18 war. After the war he studied medicine at Melbourne University and graduated with honours in 1925. Three years later he obtained his MD. and in the same year became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. During the Second World War, Bruce Hunt had an outstanding military career. He first served in the RAAF with the rank of Squadron Leader and later as a Major in the 13th Australian General Hospital. He was captured by the Japanese and worked on the infamous Burma Railway. For outstanding services performed on behalf of his fellow prisoners, he was awarded the MBE (Military Division). He spent some time working in Britain and Vienna where he pursued his interests in diabetes and neurology. It was as a general physician with a special interest in these disciplines that he came to Perth where he was to practice for the rest of his life. Bruce Hunt had an association with Royal Perth Hospital which extended over 33 years, from the time that he was appointed to the Honorary Medical Staff in 1931. He founded the Diabetic Clinic and maintained a close interest in it throughout his career. He also made valuable contributions to the administrative aspects of the Hospital's clinical services. He was on the Council of the Royal Australian College of Physicians for many years and always took a keen interest in College affairs. Bruce Hunt had a very persuasive manner and was politically astute, these were valuable characteristics which were used to good effect in the establishment of the medical school in Western Australia. His outstanding service to the patients of Royal Perth Hospital and to the community at large was recognised by the Board of Management in Bruce Hunt's appointment as Honorary Consultant Physician when he retired in 1958. Bruce Hunt died in 1964. The Bruce Hunt Lecture Theatre perpetuates the memory of an outstanding man. |
