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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
Douglas McWhae was born in Lancefield, Victoria in 1884. He went to Toorak Grammer School and then read medicine at Melbourne University, graduating MB ChB in 1906. He gained first class honours in every subject except biology where he was given second class honours. He obtained his MD in 1908 and then came to Perth and went into general practice. He was a foundation Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 1914 he went to Egypt with the lst Division of the AIF. During the Gallipoli landing he was hit by shrapnel which resulted in the loss of his right eye. After recovering from surgery he was posted to Weymouth in the UK. By this time he held the rank of Colonel and under his command were reinforcements, hospitals and Australian Army Medical Corps training units totaling some 50,000 personnel. Following the war he remained in the army reserve and was DDMS Western Command from 1925-38. In 1938 he attended the unveiling of the AIF memorial at Villers Bretonneux and had the unique distinction for a medical officer of succeeding to the command of a contingent of the Fourth Division, replacing General Hobbs who died at sea on his way there. In 1942 he was raised to the rank of Brigadier and was in charge of arrangements for possible casualties from Japanese attacks. In 1915 Douglas McWhae was made Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur, CMG in 1918, CBE in 1919 and VD in 1928. He was honorary physician to King George VI from 1941-1945. After the 1914-18 War, he obtained his MRCP in London before returning to Perth to continue his medical career. In addition to his private practice he was honorary physician to the Perth Hospital and the Children's Hospital. He was also Chairman of the visiting Board at the Claremont Mental Hospital and the Board of Lemmos Hospital. In 1919 Douglas McWhae married Gwynneth Muriel, the daughter of Dr Hope, Commissioner of Public Health in Western Australia. He was an excellent swimmer and could be seen regularly at Crawley Baths where he would laboriously remove his glass eye and deposit it on a large stake before plunging in. He was also noted for his motor car which was a Nash with the licence plate number "3". Douglas McWhae died in 1969. |
