Edward Dunlop

About Edward Dunlop

Who is it?: Prisoner of War
Birth Day: July 12, 1907
Birth Place: Wangaratta, Australian
Died On: 2 July 1993(1993-07-02) (aged 85)\nMelbourne, Victoria
Birth Sign: Leo
Nickname(s): Weary
Allegiance: Australia
Service/branch: Australian Army
Years of service: 1935–1946
Rank: Colonel
Unit: Royal Australian Army Medical Corps 2/2nd Casualty Clearing Station
Commands held: No.1 Allied General Hospital
Battles/wars: World War II Battle of Greece North African Campaign Syria-Lebanon campaign South West Pacific New Guinea Campaign South East Asia Campaign
Awards: Companion of the Order of Australia Knight Bachelor Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Officer of the Order of the British Empire Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John Mentioned in Despatches

Edward Dunlop Net Worth

Edward Dunlop was born on July 12, 1907 in Wangaratta, Australian, is Prisoner of War. Weary Dunlop was an Australian surgeon who was captured by the Japanese during the World War II. He received much acclaim for his leadership skills and bravery in captivity. A graduate of the University of Melbourne with first class honors in pharmacy and in medicine, he was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1939. He was serving as a surgeon during World War II when he became a prisoner-of-war in 1942. He was among the 106 Australian doctors captured by the Japanese and was placed in charge of prisoner-of-war camps in Java by his captors. After being held in a number of camps, he was eventually moved to the Thai-Burma railway where he, along with the other prisoners was forced into strenuous labor with inadequate food and regular physical punishments. But even in the harshest of circumstances, he maintained his optimism and helped to ease other prisoners’ pain with his skills as a doctor. A courageous human being, he not only healed his fellow prisoners, but also boosted their morale which helped to keep the survival rates of the Australian prisoners higher than those of other nationalities. He survived the war and in the post-war years he devoted himself to the health and welfare of former prisoners-of-war.
Edward Dunlop is a member of Surgeons

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Edward Dunlop images

Biography/Timeline

1907

Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE (12 July 1907 – 2 July 1993) was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.

1927

Dunlop was born in Major Plains, Victoria, the second of two children of parents James and Alice. He attended Benalla High School for two years of his education. He started an apprenticeship in pharmacy when he finished school, and moved to Melbourne in 1927. There, he studied at the Victorian College of Pharmacy and then the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a scholarship in Medicine. Dunlop graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and in Medicine, and excelled as a sportsman at Melbourne University and Ormond College. The nickname "Weary" was a reference to his last name—"tired" like a Dunlop tyre.

1929

Dunlop had been a school cadet, and he continued his part-time army Service until 1929, when his Service ceased under pressure from his pharmacy studies. He re-enlisted in 1935 and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps on 1 July with the rank of Captain. In May 1938 Dunlop left Australia for London on a ship, where he served as her medical officer. In London he attended St Bartholomew's Medical School and in 1938 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The distinguished medical mentors Dunlop met in London, Professor Grey-Turner and Sir Thomas Dunhill, impressed him with their dedication to their job and he resolved to emulate their Example.

1931

While at university Dunlop took up rugby union commencing as a fourth grade player with the Melbourne University Rugby Club in 1931. He rapidly progressed through the grades, to state and then to the national representative level, becoming the first Victorian-born player to represent the Wallabies.

1932

He made his national representative debut against the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 23 July 1932 as a number 8.

1934

In the first Test of 1934 he again appeared for Australia, this time as a lock. Australia won the match 25–11, and two weeks later the second and final match of that year's Bledisloe Cup series finished in a draw. Although Dunlop missed that match due to injury he stands as a member of the first Wallaby squad to have won the Bledisloe Cup away from New Zealand.

1942

During World War II, Dunlop was appointed to medical headquarters in the Middle East, where he developed the mobile surgical unit. In Greece he liaised with forward medical units and Allied headquarters, and at Tobruk he was a surgeon until the Australian Divisions were withdrawn for home defence. His troopship was diverted to Java in an ill-planned attempt to bolster the defences there. On 26 February 1942, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel. Dunlop became a Japanese prisoner of war in 1942 when he was captured in Bandung, Java, together with the hospital he was commanding.

1943

Because of his leadership skills, he was placed in charge of prisoner-of-war camps in Java, and was later transferred briefly to Changi, and in January 1943 commanded the first Australians sent to work on the Thai segment of the Burma-Thailand railway where prisoners of the Japanese were being used as forced labourers to construct a strategically important supply route between Bangkok and Rangoon. Conditions in the railway camps were primitive and horrific—food was totally inadequate, beatings were frequent and severe, there were no medical supplies, tropical diseases were rampant, and the Japanese required a level of productivity that would have been difficult for fully fit and properly equipped men to achieve.

1945

After 1945, with the darkness of the war years behind him, Dunlop forgave his captors and turned his energies to the task of healing and building. He was to state later that " in suffering we are all equal". He devoted himself to the health and welfare of former prisoners-of-war and their families, and worked to promote better relations between Australia and Asia.

1988

In 1988 'Weary' Dunlop was named one of '200 Great Australians'. In June 2008, he was honoured in the third set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.

1993

He received the posthumous honour of having the Canberra suburb of Dunlop named after him shortly after his death in 1993. His image is on the 1995 issue Australian fifty cent piece with the words "They Served Their Country in World War II, 1939 – 1945". The fifty cent piece is part of a set including the one dollar coin and the twenty cent piece. He has a platoon named after him in the Army Recruit Training Centre, Blamey Barracks, Kapooka. Weary Dunlop Platoon is a holding platoon to recruits that want to leave recruit training.

1995

He was on one of 1995 Australia Remembers 45c stamps.

2008

In June 2008, he was honoured in the third set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame. To date, he is the only Victorian so honoured.