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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
William Trethowan was born in 1860 at Creswick, Victoria and received his early education in Ballarat. After leaving school he worked in a bank for ten years saving money to go to medical school. At the age of 28 he entered the Aberdeen Medical School and in 1892 graduated with lst class Honours and the John Murray Gold Medal in Surgery. After a resident appointment in Aberdeen he went to the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin and then came to Perth where he was appointed Surgeon to the Perth Hospital. At the turn of the last century he was regarded as the leading figure in surgery in Western Australia. Apart from serving the Perth Hospital for 25 years, he was also surgeon to the Perth Children's Hospital and the Home of Peace. He is regarded still by St John of God Hospital, Subiaco as the father of that institution. There is a story told of how in the early days of aviation he flew in an aircraft - a two seater Bristol biplane piloted by Charles Kingsford Smith - to Carnarvon to perform an emergency tracheotomy. He was active in many other ways. In 1907 he was the President of the West Australian Division of the British Medical Association and was the treasurer for ten years. He was President of the St John Ambulance Association (1907). William Trethowan was one of the founders of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and was a foundation Fellow. In 1915 he saw service in Lemnos and in Egypt as a surgical specialist with the rank of Major, returning to Australia with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Outside of medicine William Trethowan was a good golfer and a keen yachtsman, becoming Commodore of Perth Yacht Club in 1913. Later he was elected President of the South Perth Golf Club. William Trethowan died in 1929. |
