Gurner, Colin Marshall (1919 - 2006)

Summary

Colin M. Gurner was a medical practitioner and radiologist whose early career was at the Royal Adelaide and Adelaide Children's Hospitals and in private practice. Before that he served with the Australian Army Medical Corps during WWII, joining the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) after being discharged. Between 1951 and 1960 he was in partnership with his father, Colin Gurner, and J. Stanley Verco and Peter Verco in Adelaide. In 1960 Gurner joined the regular army as Deputy Director-General of Medical Services, and for the next 20 years was primarily involved with military planning and the provision of advise to government. He frequently made official visits overseas, including annually to Vietnam during that conflict. Increasingly he was concerned with the problems associated with conscription, resistant malaria and casualty evacuation. Gurner retired as Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Forces in 1979. Until he finally retired from medical practice he was involved with assessing the medical issues of intending immigrants, as Medical Director of the Australian Kidney Foundation, and with the Australian Defence Force Academy. Gurner was active in the College of Radiologists of Australasia, serving as President from 1971 to 1972. In 2003 he published a well-received history of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps from the close of WWII.

Details

Chronology

1939

Career event - Joined the Citizen Military Force

1942

Education - MB BS, University of Adelaide

1942 - 1943

Career position - Intern, Royal Adelaide Hospital

1943 - 1946

Career event - Served with the Australian Army Medical Corps

1946 - 1948

Career position - Surgical registrar (later radium officer), Royal Adelaide Hospital

1948 - 1950

Career position - Medical officer, radiology department, Royal Adelaide Hospital

1948 - 1960

Career position - Member, Citizen Military Forces

1950

Education - Member, Royal Australasian College of Physicians

1950 - 1951

Career position - Fellow in Radiation Therapy, Memorial Cancer Centre, New York, U.S.A.

1951

Education - Diploma of the American Board of Radiology (Radiation Therapy)

1951 - 1960

Career position - Partner in Verco radiology practice: J. S. Verco, P. W. Verco and C. Gurner snr

1952 - 1960

Career position - Assistant honorary in radiology, Adelaide Children's Hospital

1952 - 1960

Career position - Assistant honorary in radiology, Royal Adelaide Hospital

1957 - 1972

Award - Fellow, College of Radiologists of Australasia

1960 - 1967

Career position - Deputy Director-General Medical Services, Australian Army

1967 - ?

Award - Fellow, Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators

1967 - 1977

Career position - Director-General Medical Services, Australian Army

1969

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1969

Award - Commander of the British Empire (CBE)

1969 - 2006

Award - Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians

1969 - 2006

Award - Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

1971 - 1972

Career position - President, College of Radiologists of Australasia

1972 - 1998

Award - Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Radiologists

1972 - 2006

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Radiologists, United Kingdom

1975 - 1977

Career position - Joint Services Medical Advisor

1977 - 1979

Career position - Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Forces

1978

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the medical branch of the Defence Force

1979

Career event - Retired from the Australian Defence Forces

1979 - 1984

Career position - Chairman, Medical Board, Australian Capital Territory

1980 - 1984

Career position - Commissioner, ACT Sub-district, St John Ambulance Brigade

1980 - 1985

Career position - Medical Officer, Department of Health, Australian Capital Territory

1982 - 1985

Career position - Medical Director (part-time), Australian Kidney Foundation

1985 - 1987

Career event - In private practice

1987 - 1993

Career position - Radiologist, Australian Defence Force Academy

1991

Award - Member of the Most Venerable Order Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (KStJ)

1993

Career event - Retired from medical practice

1998 - 2006

Award - Fellow, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Gurner, Colin M., The Royal Australian Army Medical Corps: 1945-1975 (Prahran East: 2003), 137 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Gurner, C. M., 'Butler, Arthur Graham (1872-1949)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 7 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 502-503. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070507b.htm. Details
• Gurner, C. M., 'Jeffries, Lewis Wibmer (1884-1971), Medical Practitioner and Soldier' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 9 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 475-476. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090467b.htm. Details
• Gurner, C. M., 'Thompson, Clive Wentworth (1882-1941), Medical Practitioner and Soldier' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 12 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 206-207. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120224b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Hare, W. S. C., 'Colin Marshall Gurner, AO, CBE (1919 - 2006)', Australasian radiology 51(2):119-200, 51 (2) (2007), 199-200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1673.2007.01708.x. Details

See also

• Who's who in Australia 1995 (Melbourne: Information Australia Group, 1995), 1622 pp. Details
• Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 'Gurner, Colin Marshall (1919 - 2006)', College roll, Royal Australian College of Physicians, Sydney, 2020, https://www.racp.edu.au/about/our-heritage/college-roll/college-roll-bio/gurner-colin-marshall. https://www.racp.edu.au/about/college-roll/college-roll. Details
• Ryan, James, Sutton, Keith and Baigent, Malcolm eds, Australasian Radiology: a History (Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 542 pp. Details