TIME WARP with

his ordeal.

A little while later I was talking to a man who lived in the town but had worked for some years in the mines nearby.

He had one leg!

He told me how his leg had been badly smashed in a mine collapse in the 1940s and had to be amputated in the local hospital.

I replied that I already knew about the operation and the story of his leg and how much everyone involved had cared for him.

He was delighted.

My research into the history of the hospital revealed another story. A young married couple who had met at Sydney University where they were both studying medicine, decided that they would like to live and work in the country.

It was rare for women to go to University in those days and even less likely for them to study medicine, but they were an unusual pair and had a great desire to practise in a country town.

Dr Les. Tunley had enlisted to fight in the First World War by putting his age

up and had served in the horrifying battles on the Somme and VillersBretonneux.

His young wife, Dr Marjorie Tunley was one of only 12 women amongst 143 men in her year to study medicine, her family giving her permission as long as she didn’t fail in any exam. Which, of course, she didn’t!

They arrived in Gulgong not long after the end of the First World War and stayed for 36 years. The townspeople remembered Dr Les and Dr Marjorie with great affection and I decided to try to find out what had happened to them after they left town.

After quite a bit of detective work, I managed to track down Dr Marjorie who was in a nursing home in Sydney and the days of living in Gulgong remained vividly in her mind. She very kindly shared her memories and told me that, when she was working in a Sydney hospital just after graduation, unlike the men in her year, she was expected to work for nothing. This attitude also applied to the patients she was able to see.

“I was able to treat only women and children and my husband looked after the men and those who lived out of town.”

Then the Second World War broke out and Dr Les, who had seen action in WW1, joined up and everything changed.

“I was the only doctor in town and had to look after everyone,” said Dr Marjorie.

“I didn’t drive but, after farewelling my husband at the railway station when he was called up, a friend tossed me his car keys and said ‘Here are the keys, now drive the car!’ Which I did!

“I remember going out at night into the bush in a horse and sulky, because of petrol rationing, and saying to myself: “Who’s winning this war?”

When I left that country town and came to Orange, I still remembered the story of Dr Les and Dr Marjorie.

Imagine my surprise when I met Jenny Hazelton in Orange who, upon hearing where I had come from, said: “My grandparents were doctors in Gulgong.”

And, unbelievably, her grandparents were Dr Les and Dr Marjorie!

Copyright HelenMcAnulty 2023