This book traces the life and career of Rupert Downes, a heroic figure in Australian military medical history.


He was a surgeon and eminent pioneering paediatrician but he was also a life-long professional soldier. He joined the army when he was 16, while still at school and spent most of the next 40 years in uniform.

Australia's youngest lieutenant-colonel at the beginning of World War One, Downes led a field ambulance to Gallipoli. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, he became the medical head of the Anzac Mounted Division and then the Desert Mounted Corps. As such he took part in the long campaign through Sinai, Palestine and Syria.

Post-war, Downes continued as part-time head of army medical services in Victoria until 1934, when he became Director General of Medical Services.

As full-time head of the Army Medical Corps, he ensured that Australia was medically prepared for World War Two. His great achievement was the construction of the great capital city military hospitals - Concorde, Daw Park, Greenslopes, Heidelberg and Hollywood. Events soon vindicated his foresight and determination.

He lost his position as DGMS in controversial circumstances in 1941 but continued serving conspicuously in other roles until his death on duty in a plane crash near Cairns in 1945.