Pearn, John Hemsley (1940 - )

Summary

John Pearn has a distinguished career as a paediatrician, surgeon, military physician and academic. He was the Physician to the Australian and New Zealand forces during the Vietnam War and served as Resuscitationist and Consultant Physician as part of the Forward Surgical Team of the Australian Medical Support Force during the Rwandan emergency. He has also held positions at the Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane and the Royal Women's Hospital in Brisbane. His academic life includes numerous publications on medical history and he is the founder of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine. Some of the other significant roles held by John Pearn include National Director of Training for St John Ambulance Australia and Professor of Child Health and Paediatrics at the University of Queensland.

Related entries

Archival resources

The University of Queensland Archives

• John Pearn Collection, 1982 - , UQFL266; The University of Queensland Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Pearn, John, In the Capacity of a Surgeon: a Biography of Walter Scott (Brisbane: Merino Lithographics, 1988), 232 pp. Details
• Pearn, John, Arms and Aesculapius: military medicine in pre-Federation Queensland (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1996), 245 pp. Details
• Pearn, John H., A Doctor in the Garden: Australian Flora and the World of Medicine (Brisbane: Amphion Press, Royal Children's Hospital, University of Queensland, 2001), 497 pp. Details
• Pearn, John Hemsley, The Highest Traditions: a Biography of Sydney Fancourt McDonald (Brisbane: Department of Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, 1985). Details

Book Sections

• Pearn, John, 'French Doctors at Sydney Cove: Gallic Contact in the Second Decade after Phillip' in Australia's Quest for Colonial Health: Some Influences on Early Health and Medicine in Australia, John Pearn and Christine O'Carrigan, eds (Brisbane: Department of Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, 1983), pp. 45-61. Details
• Pearn, John, 'First Fleet Surgeons: a Band of Brothers Disparate' in Pioneer Medicine in Australia, John Pearn, ed. (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1988), pp. 33-55, 283-285. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'Flecker, Hugo (1884-1957), Medical Practitioner, Radiotherapist, Toxicologist and Natural Historian' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 14 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 182-183. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140195b.htm. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'Fryberg, Sir Abraham (Abe) (1901 - 1993), public health physician' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 19 1991-1995 (A-Z), Nolan, Melanie, ed. (Canberra: ANU Press, 2021), pp. 296-8, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fryberg-sir-abraham-abe-18619. Details
• Pearn, John Hemsley, 'McDonald, Sydney Fancourt (1885-1947), Paediatrician and Army Dotctor' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 10 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 254-255. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100246b.htm. Details
• Phillips, Gael and Pearn, John, 'Relict of Ancient Medical Practice in Australia' in Health, History and Horizons, John Pearn, ed. (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1992), pp. 347-368. Details
• Phillips, Gael E.; and Pearn, John H., '"Oral history" - memorials to three pioneer Australian dentists' in "Outpost medicine": Australasian studies on the history of medicine: Third National Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Hobart, February 1993, Atkins, Susanne, Kirkby, Kenneth, Thomson, Philip and Pearn, John, eds (Hobart: University of Tasmania and the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, 1994), pp. 87-106. Details

Conference Papers

• Pearn, J.; and Phillips, G., 'The Yentyl Syndrome: Gender Subterfuge for Success in Male-dominated Society', in History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette, Pearn, John, Case, Donna, Chapple, Ian and Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), pp. 405-408.. Details
• Pearn, J.H., 'The William Bryan - Convict Ship and Colonist's Barque', in History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette, Pearn, John, Case, Donna, Chapple, Ian and Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), pp. 263-268.. Details
• Pearn, J.H., 'Scorbitus et Contusio: Medical Practice at the Macquarie Harbour Penal Settlement, Tasmania, Australia', in History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette, Pearn, John, Case, Donna, Chapple, Ian and Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), pp. 83-88.. Details
• Pearn, John, ''Non Paulatim sed Multum' - a Century of Service', in Patients, Practitioners and Techniques: Second National Conference on Medicine and Health in Australia, Melbourne, 1984 edited by Harold Attwood and R. W. Home (Melbourne: Medical History Unit and Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne, a, 1984).. Details
• Pearn, John, 'The Queen Victoria Homes for Consumptives Fund: a History of its Origins, Functions and Achievements', in Reflections on Medical History and Health in Australia. Third National Conference on Medical History and Health in Australia edited by Harold Attwood and Geoffrey Kenny (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Medical History Unit, 1986), pp. 251-267.. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Wilson Inlet and Denmark River, Western Australia - the Linked Australian Memorials and Lives of Two Royal Naval Surgeons', in Australian Society of the History of Medicine, The Impact of the Past on the Present: Second National Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine edited by Peter Winterton and Des Gurry (Perth: Australian Society of the History of Medicine, 1991), pp. 145-149.. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Succour and Supply - the Role of the Amity in Australian Exploration', in Australian Society of the History of Medicine, The Impact of the Past on the Present: Second National Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine edited by Peter Winterton and Des Gurry (Perth: Australian Society of the History of Medicine, 1991), pp. 234-237.. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Medical Philately: South Pacific Images Which Record and Promote the Preservation of Health', in New Countries and Old Medicine: Proceedings of an International Conference on the History of Medicine and Health, Auckland, New Zealand, 1994 edited by Linda Bryder and Derek Dow (Auckland: Pyramid Press, 1994), pp. 111-117.. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Surgeon Explorers in the South Seas (1994 Newman Lecture)', in New Countries and Old Medicine: Proceedings of an International Conference on the History of Medicine and Health, Auckland, New Zealand, 1994 edited by Linda Bryder and Derek Dow (Auckland: Pyramid Press, 1994), pp. 154-160.. Details
• Pearn, John; Parker, Neville and Kenny, Geoffrey, 'Ernest Sandford Jackson: Pioneer Surgeon, Early Medical Historian and Champion of Public Health in Australia', in Reflections on Medical History and Health in Australia. Third National Conference on Medical History and Health in Australia edited by Harold Attwood and Geoffrey Kenny (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Medical History Unit, 1986), pp. 1-18.. Details
• Phillips, G.; and Pearn, J., 'Convict and Colonial Pharmacopeia: Two Centuries' Changes', in History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette, Pearn, John, Case, Donna, Chapple, Ian and Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), pp. 89-92.. Details

Conference Proceedings

• History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette; Pearn, John; Case, Donna; Chapple, Ian; Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), 439 pp. Details

Edited Books

• Parker, Neville and Pearn, John eds, Ernest Sandford Jackson: the Life and Times of a Pioneer Australian Surgeon (Brisbane: Australian Medical Association [Queensland Branch] and Department of Child Health, University of Que, 1987), 370 pp. Details
• Pearn, John ed., Pioneer Medicine in Australia (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1988), 324 pp. Details
• Pearn, John ed., Health, History and Horizons (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1992), 443 pp. Details
• Pearn, John and Cobcroft, Mervyn eds, Fevers and Frontiers (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1990), 284 pp. Details
• Pearn, John and O'Carrigan, Catherine eds, Australia's Quest for Colonial Health: Some Influences on Early Health and Medicine in Australia (Brisbane: Department of Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, 1983). Details
• Pearn, John and Powell, Laurie eds, The Bancroft Tradition (Brisbane: Amphion Press, 1991), 277 pp. Details

Journals

• Pearn, John, ed., 'Surgeon' Wills of the Burke and Wills Expedition 1860-1861: New Research and a Medical Perspective of William John Wills (1834-1861)', Queensland History Journal, 21, 2012, 522-36 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Couper, Patrick, Mckay, Judith, Campbell, Bruce and Pearn, John, 'Obituary of Jeanette Covacevich AM 1945-2015', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 120 (2016), 75-6. Details
• Guly, Henry, Sullivan, Peter and Pearn, John, 'Medical memorials of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration', Journal of Medical Biography, 24 (3) (2016), 408-12. Details
• Halliday, R. B.; and Pearn, J. H., 'Ronald Vernon Southcott, Acarologist, physicisn, naturalist', International Journal of Acarology, 25 (1999), 151-3. Details
• Pearn, J, 'Surgeon-Superintendents on Convict Ships', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 66 (4) (1996), 253-256. Details
• Pearn, J., 'Acacias and Aesulapius: Walter Edmond Roth, 1861-1933', Medical Journal of Australia, 161 (3) (1994), 216-7. Details
• Pearn, J., 'Dr James George Beaney (1828 - 1891): a pioneer Australian paediatrician and paediatric surgeon', Journal of paediatric and child health, 40 (2004), 702-6. Details
• Pearn, J. H., 'Doctor Governor, Sir William MacGregor - and the Queensland Medical School', Medical Journal of Australia, 153 (11-12) (1990), 708-711. Details
• Pearn, J. H., 'The Pivot: the First Australian Casualty Clearing Hospital at the Gallipoli Beachead - the First Seven Days', Medical Journal of Australia, 153 (10) (1990), 612-618. Details
• Pearn, J. H., 'Murray Griffin and his Changi Clinical Paintings', Medical Journal of Australia, 155 (11-12) (1991), 757-777. Details
• Pearn, J. H., 'Courage and Curiosity: Surgeon-Explorers in Australia and New Zealand, Part 2: the Science of the Outback', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 62 (4) (1992), 304-310. Details
• Pearn, J. H., 'Courage and Curiosity: Surgeon-Explorers in Australia and New Zealand, Part 1: Discovery and Bridgehead', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 62 (3) (1992), 219-234. Details
• Pearn, J.; and Russell, F., 'The life and contributions of Dr [Ronald] Vernon Southcott, May 15, 1918 - April 9, 1998', Toxicon, 37 (6) (1999), 837-40. Details
• Pearn, J.; and Wales, M., 'Dr John Thomson (1847-1909), Pioneer Surgeon, Military Surgeon and a Founder of St John Ambulance in Australia', Medical Journal of Australia, 157 (1992), 771-775. Details
• Pearn, J.; Grant, Peter; and James, William, 'A tradition in "the dual role": a century of service in the Medical Corps', Medical journal of Australia, 143 (9) (1985), 580-3. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Phthisis and Philately - an Account of the Consumptives Home Stamps of New South Wales', Medical Journal of Australia, 147 (11-12) (1987), 575-577. Details
• Pearn, John, 'The Enchanted Herb: the Work of the Early Medical Botanists in Australia', Medical Journal of Australia, 147 (1987), 568-572. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Erythroblastosis Fetalis-The Discovery and Partial Elimination of Rhesus Incompatibility-The Origins of Exchange Transfusion in Australia', Pathology, 26 (2) (1994), 176-182. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Around the Rim: the Role of Surgeons in Discovery and Research in the Pacific Rim; Part 1: Surgeons in the Pacific: Expeditioners and Expedition Leaders', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 64 (1) (1994), 38-44. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Emile Deplanche, 1824-1875: Scientist and Surgeon of the South Pacific', Medical Journal of Australia, 160 (9) (1994), 568, 570-571. Details
• Pearn, John, 'The Sugar Industry on the Sunshine Coast', Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 15 (7) (1994), 329-337. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Hugo Flecker's Contributions to Medicine and Natural History', Medical Journal of Australia, 161 (1) (1994), 66-67, 70. Details
• Pearn, John, 'To Record His Voice: Two Memorials to Surgeon Walter Scott (1787-1854), First Surgeon of Northern Australia', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 65 (6) (1995), 442-448. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Surgeon's Mate Lowes of H.M.S. Sirius and the First Fleet', Health and History, 1 (1) (1998), 65-71. Details
• Pearn, John, 'A pioneer in marine science - Dr Ronald Vernon Southcott', Australian marine science bulletin, 144 (1998), 18-9. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Thomas Tate (1842-1934): Doctor, Adventurer and Teacher', Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 17 (8) (2000), 354-360. Details
• Pearn, John, 'John King: an Ulster Explorer Who Became the First Person to Cross Australia', Queensland History Journal, 21 (2012), 510-22. Details
• Pearn, John, '"Lux sanat": architectural metaphors of medicine and health', Queensland history journal, 24 (2) (2019), 239-50. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Invisible victims: Queensland children and the 1919 influenza epidemic', Queensland history journal, 24 (4) (2020), 399-409. Details
• Pearn, John, 'Sister Elizabeth Kenny 1880 - 1952: her Queensland memorials', Queensland history journal, 24 (4) (2020), 410-26. Details
• Pearn, John and MacDonald, A., 'Emigrant Etherist: the Medical and Scientific Influence of John Henry Hill Lewellin (1818-86), Pioneer Anaestetist and Surgeon and Patron of Botany in Australia', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 64 (11) (1994), 790-794. Details
• Pearn, John and Phillips, Gael, 'The life of Henry Jeanneret (1802 - 1886, pioneer Australian dentist, with an account of his colonial service and scientific contributions in Australia', Australian Dental Journal, 41 (4) (1996), 260-4. Details
• Pearn, John and Thearle, John, 'To live...and Serve the Future Hour: Retirement of Professor John Rendle-Short', Australian Paediatric Journal, 20 (3) (1984), 175-176. Details
• Pearn, John and Winkel, Kenneth D., 'Toxinology in Australia's Colonial Era: a Chronology and Perspective of Human Envenomation in 19th Century Australia', Toxicon, 48 (7) (2006), 726-737. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'Dr. Herbert Basedow (1881-1933), a social, scientific and expeditionary pioneer', Medical Journal of Australia, 160 (1994), 213. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'An Australian soldier-naturalist: the civilian and military contributions of Captain Ronald Vernon Southcott AAMC (1918-1998)', ADF Health, 5 (2) (2004), 94-5. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'Dr William Wilson Ingram (1888-1982) Doctor-Soldier, Physician and Antarctic Expeditioner', Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 41 (2011), 270-7. Details
• Pearn, John H., 'Australian Orchids and the Doctors They Commemorate', Medical Journal of Australia, 198 (2013), 52-4. Details
• Pearn, John; Isles, Alan; and Sullivan, Peter, 'The origins of modern nursing in Queensland: the life and service of Jane Hellicar (1840-1914)', Queensland History Journal, 22 (9) (2015), 702-12. Details
• Sullivan, Peter and Pearn, John, 'Medical Memorials in Antarctica: a Gazetteer of Medical Place-names', Journal of Medical Biography, 20 (4) (2012), 173-81. Details
• Wales, Murdoch and Pearn, John, 'Pioneer medical practitioners on the Darling Downs', Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 16 (2) (1996), 79-92. Details

Resources

• 'Pearn, John (1940-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-470053. Details

Reviews

• Proust, A. J., A Companion of the History of Medicine in Australia, 1788-1939 (2003)
  Pearn, John H., Health and History, 5 (2), (2003), 160. Details