Treasure chest
Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's medicine chest is on loan to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences where Weary began his illustrious medical career 85 years ago.
In 1924 a young Edward Dunlop enrolled with what was then the Victorian College of Pharmacy in Parkville, Melbourne, to begin a career in medicine that would span more than 50 years and earn him a reputation as a great Australian.
In memory of his connection with what is now the Monash Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, a small but important piece of the Weary Dunlop legacy has made its way on to the Parkville campus.
The wooden chest, replete with empty medicine bottles that once contained eucalyptus oil, Epsom salts, sulphur ointment, ammonia, bicarbonate of soda and compound liquorice ointment, travelled the world alongside Weary Dunlop - perhaps Australia's best known and most loved surgeon.
Sir Edward gave the chest to his long-time Melbourne-based friend Ray Cooke, who, after Weary's passing, donated the chest and its contents to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, which stands on the original site of St Andrew's Hospital where Weary once practised medicine.
The Institute has kindly loaned the chest to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Born in 1907 in country Victoria, Sir Edward excelled as a doctor and surgeon and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1935.
He rose through the ranks to become Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services on the staff of the Australian Corps Headquarters and AIF Headquarters in Gaza and Alexandria.
He later served in Tobruk, Java, Singapore and was among thousands of Prisoners of War shipped to Thailand for work on the Burma-Siam railway.
After his retirement from service, Dunlop continued to practise medicine and lecture, and maintained an ongoing concern for the health and welfare of former prisoners of war to of the Japanese.
He became an ambassador for Australia and built bridges of friendship around the world urging all to forgive those responsible for the atrocities of war.
During the course of his life Sir Edward received numerous honours and awards in recognition of his civic, sporting, educational, military and medical achievements.
In 1977 he was named Australian of the Year and in 1988 one of the 200 Great Australians. He died in 1993 and his state funeral, held in Melbourne, attracted 10,000 mourners.