Donald Duffy
Encyclopedia
Dr Donald Grant Duffy was an Australia
n doctor
and surgeon
. He served in the Australian Army
in World War II
and was a president of the Melbourne Football Club
.
in northern Queensland
on 15 January 1915, to Leontine Joseph Duffy and Bessie Rose Grant. Leontine Duffy was a manager of Australian Sugar. Donald was one of three children, all of whom ended up working in the field of medicine, with his brother, Douglas, becoming a urologist and his sister, Dorothy becoming a nurse.
. He then went on to study medicine
at Ormond College
, University of Melbourne
, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1938. Duffy then went on to achieve his Doctor of Medicine
(MD), also from the University of Melbourne, in 1945.
, as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force
, on 13 May 1940 in Caulfield
, Melbourne
. He was posted to the 2/4 Batallion as the Regimental Medical Officer. He served in the Middle East
, Syria
and New Guinea
and, notably, in the Kokoda Track campaign
, which was vital in stopping the Japanese invasion of Australia. In 1942 Duffy was promoted to the rank of Major
and on 23 December 1943 he was mentioned in dipatches, in the London Gazette
and the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, for "Gallant & distinuished services S.W.P. Area". Duffy was discharged on 8 May 1946.
, where he worked with Professor Clifford Wilson in experimental studies on hypertension
and nephritis
. After his Fellowship, Duffy returned to Melbourne and worked at the Alfred Hospital, the Austin Hospital
, and the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg. He worked as a MacKeddie Research Fellow at the Baker Medical Research Institute for four years, where his work was concerned hypertension and renal disease.
Duffy became Sub-Dean and, later on, Dean of the Clinical School, at the Alfred Hospital and was instrumental in obtaining funds for the first commercially built Renal Dialysis Unit used in the hospital. At the Austin Hospital, Duffy, along with Keith Bradley and Tom Patrick, was responsible for creating the Spinal Unit.
Duffy became a Member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
(RACP), upon receiving his MD in 1945 and he became a Fellow of the RACP in 1954. He served on the Victorian State Committee of the RACP from 1958 to 1964. Duffy was also a member of the Australian Rheumatism Association, the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and the Australasian Society of Nephrology.
when he became the club's Medical Officer in 1951, a role which he kept for many years. As well as this he also served on the Board of the club and, when long-serving president Sir Albert Chadwick
stepped down in 1963, it was Duffy who assumed the presidency. In his second season as president the Demons won their sixth premiership in ten seasons, all of which were coached by the legendary Norm Smith
, but their first under Duffy's presidency. This was, however, to be the peak of Duffy's 12 years as president, with arguably the lowest moment coming only a year later, in 1965. Having lost star player Ron Barassi
during the off-season and many other premiership players retiring the Demons were not the team they once were, however, they still won the first eight games of the season. However, in Round 9 Melbourne lost to St Kilda by ten goals, which was the worst loss of Smith's coaching career and when the Demons then lost two of their next three games Duffy and his Board made the decicsion to sack Smith, who later go on to be the AFL Coach of the Century. This caused a sensation at the time, occupying the front and back pages of one of Melbourne's premier newspapers, The Sun News-Pictorial
, and occupying the first three pages of the other, The Age
. After a severe public backlash to the decision Smith was reinstated as coach by the Board the very next day, which was front page news again. Smith and Duffy were pictured, clasping hands, and Smith declared that "I think we will see Melbourne more united than ever". This, however, was not to be the case as, in what has been dubbed the "Curse of Norm Smith", the Demons did not make the finals again until 1987 and they have not won a premiership since. Duffy resigned as president at the end of 1974, after 12 years, and was succeeded by John Mitchell
.
Duffy also served on the Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club
. Nominated by Ivor Warne-Smith
, Duffy was elected to the Committee on 26 August 1960 and, after 26 years of service, resigned on 1 January 1987.
and the sister of prominent paediatrician, John Colebatch. The Duffys had five children:
Duffy's hobbies included squash
, bush walking and surfing
.
Duffy died on 16 January 1995, from cerebral metastases, aged 80.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
. He served in the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was a president of the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
.
Early life
Duffy was born in MourilyanMourilyan, Queensland
Mourilyan is a town in Queensland, Australia. The town is located south of Innisfail on the Bruce Highway. It was established around the Mourilyan sugar mill which provided much of the employment in the area until its destruction during Cyclone Larry on 20 March 2006...
in northern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
on 15 January 1915, to Leontine Joseph Duffy and Bessie Rose Grant. Leontine Duffy was a manager of Australian Sugar. Donald was one of three children, all of whom ended up working in the field of medicine, with his brother, Douglas, becoming a urologist and his sister, Dorothy becoming a nurse.
Schooling
Although born in Queensland, Duffy was educated at The Geelong CollegeThe Geelong College
The Geelong College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school, located in Newtown, an inner-western suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia....
. He then went on to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at Ormond College
Ormond College (University of Melbourne)
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne. It is home to 332 undergraduates, 30 postgraduates and 27 professorial/academic residents.-Establishment:...
, University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1938. Duffy then went on to achieve his Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(MD), also from the University of Melbourne, in 1945.
World War II
Duffy enlisted to the Australian Military Forces, the forerunner to the Australian Army ReserveAustralian Army Reserve
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the...
, as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
, on 13 May 1940 in Caulfield
Caulfield, Victoria
Caulfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He was posted to the 2/4 Batallion as the Regimental Medical Officer. He served in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and, notably, in the Kokoda Track campaign
Kokoda Track campaign
The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 between Japanese and Allied—primarily Australian—forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua...
, which was vital in stopping the Japanese invasion of Australia. In 1942 Duffy was promoted to the rank of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
and on 23 December 1943 he was mentioned in dipatches, in the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
and the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, for "Gallant & distinuished services S.W.P. Area". Duffy was discharged on 8 May 1946.
Medical career
On discharge from the Army, and having earned his MD the previous year, Duffy was awarded a Nuffield Dominion Travelling Fellowship, which took him to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he worked with Professor Clifford Wilson in experimental studies on hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
and nephritis
Nephritis
Nephritis is inflammation of the nephrons in the kidneys. The word "nephritis" was imported from Latin, which took it from Greek: νεφρίτιδα. The word comes from the Greek νεφρός - nephro- meaning "of the kidney" and -itis meaning "inflammation"....
. After his Fellowship, Duffy returned to Melbourne and worked at the Alfred Hospital, the Austin Hospital
Austin Hospital, Melbourne
The Austin Hospital is a major teaching public hospital located in Melbourne's north eastern suburb of Heidelberg, and is administrated by Austin Health, along with the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre.-History:...
, and the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg. He worked as a MacKeddie Research Fellow at the Baker Medical Research Institute for four years, where his work was concerned hypertension and renal disease.
Duffy became Sub-Dean and, later on, Dean of the Clinical School, at the Alfred Hospital and was instrumental in obtaining funds for the first commercially built Renal Dialysis Unit used in the hospital. At the Austin Hospital, Duffy, along with Keith Bradley and Tom Patrick, was responsible for creating the Spinal Unit.
Duffy became a Member of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Royal Australasian College of Physicians
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, or RACP, is the organisation responsible for training, educating, and representing over 9,000 physicians and paediatricians in Australia and New Zealand. It was founded in 1938....
(RACP), upon receiving his MD in 1945 and he became a Fellow of the RACP in 1954. He served on the Victorian State Committee of the RACP from 1958 to 1964. Duffy was also a member of the Australian Rheumatism Association, the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and the Australasian Society of Nephrology.
Melbourne Football Club
Duffy began his association with the Melbourne Football ClubMelbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
when he became the club's Medical Officer in 1951, a role which he kept for many years. As well as this he also served on the Board of the club and, when long-serving president Sir Albert Chadwick
Albert Chadwick
Sir Albert Edward "Bert" Chadwick was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. He was born in Beechworth and educated at Tungamah High School....
stepped down in 1963, it was Duffy who assumed the presidency. In his second season as president the Demons won their sixth premiership in ten seasons, all of which were coached by the legendary Norm Smith
Norm Smith
Norman Walter "Norm" Smith was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League. After 200 games as a player with Melbourne and Fitzroy, Smith began a twenty year coaching career, including a fifteen year stint at Melbourne...
, but their first under Duffy's presidency. This was, however, to be the peak of Duffy's 12 years as president, with arguably the lowest moment coming only a year later, in 1965. Having lost star player Ron Barassi
Ron Barassi
Ronald Dale Barassi, Jr AM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. During a long and decorated career, Barassi has been one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. His father, Ron Barassi, Sr., was the first Australian footballer killed at Tobruk during...
during the off-season and many other premiership players retiring the Demons were not the team they once were, however, they still won the first eight games of the season. However, in Round 9 Melbourne lost to St Kilda by ten goals, which was the worst loss of Smith's coaching career and when the Demons then lost two of their next three games Duffy and his Board made the decicsion to sack Smith, who later go on to be the AFL Coach of the Century. This caused a sensation at the time, occupying the front and back pages of one of Melbourne's premier newspapers, The Sun News-Pictorial
The Sun News-Pictorial
The Sun News-Pictorial, commonly known as The Sun, was a morning daily tabloid newspaper in Melbourne, Australia established in 1922 and closed in 1990.It was part of The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd stable of Melbourne newspapers...
, and occupying the first three pages of the other, The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
. After a severe public backlash to the decision Smith was reinstated as coach by the Board the very next day, which was front page news again. Smith and Duffy were pictured, clasping hands, and Smith declared that "I think we will see Melbourne more united than ever". This, however, was not to be the case as, in what has been dubbed the "Curse of Norm Smith", the Demons did not make the finals again until 1987 and they have not won a premiership since. Duffy resigned as president at the end of 1974, after 12 years, and was succeeded by John Mitchell
John Mitchell (administrator)
John Robert Mitchell is a former president of the Melbourne Football Club and the Melbourne Cricket Club.- Melbourne Football Club :Mitchell became president of the Melbourne Football Club at the end of 1974, to replace the retiring Donald Duffy. He served for four years, during which time...
.
Duffy also served on the Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
. Nominated by Ivor Warne-Smith
Ivor Warne-Smith
Ivor Warne-Smith , was an Australian footballer, who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League and for the Latrobe Football Club in the North-Western Football Union in Tasmania...
, Duffy was elected to the Committee on 26 August 1960 and, after 26 years of service, resigned on 1 January 1987.
Personal life
Described as a "tall, handsome and athletic man", Duffy married Mary Hazel Colebatch on 26 June 1943. Mary was a physiotherapist who served overseas with the Australian Military forces during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the sister of prominent paediatrician, John Colebatch. The Duffys had five children:
- Jennifer, a physiotherapist
- Donald Jr., a solicitorSolicitorSolicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
- Ian, a barristerBarristerA barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
- Stuart, a dentistDentistA dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
- Andrew, an executive with TelstraTelstraTelstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
Duffy's hobbies included squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
, bush walking and surfing
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
.
Duffy died on 16 January 1995, from cerebral metastases, aged 80.