John Strahan Bothroyd was described by his grand-daughter in the obituary published in 'The Age' on 2 February 2000, as 'a formidable Mildura institution'. This summed him up very succinctly. He held firm beliefs in the required standards of medicine and surgery with confidence bordering on self-centered arrogance at times and he expressed publicly, particularly to hospital administrators, his opinions on anything that he thought sub-standard. These characteristics, coupled with his natural aggression, did not detract from the quality of his mind which allowed him to comfortably meander between both surgery and medicine.
Subjects as diverse as the early use of internal fixation of fractures, a novel technique of open prostatectomy using tonsillectomy instruments and, most importantly, his early realisation of the inherent risks of smoking, were typical. His aggressive crusade against the latter often had him at odds with hospital management, as well as some of his colleagues. In his latter years he became a formidable expert witness in court. His natural combative nature, great command of English, his retentive memory and quick thinking were ideally suited to this role and made him a popular witness with barristers.
Born in Sale, Victoria, he attended a different school every year of his primary education, which was completed at Scotch College, Melbourne. He was the son of James and Bessie, both teachers. His father became Chief School Inspector in Victoria.
After graduating in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1927, he worked as a resident at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, then at the Royal Children's Hospital, and finally at the the Royal Women's Hospital during the years up to 1931. While practicing in Mildura during the 1930s, with innumerable visits to Melbourne by train, he obtained qualifications from both the Australasian College of Physicians and the Australasian College of Surgeons. He also acquired his MD and MS from the University of Melbourne.
He served with rank of Squadron Leader as a Specialist Surgeon in the Royal Australian Air Force from 1941 to 1945. After the war he returned to Mildura and contributed to the success of the Medical School Annex of the University of Melbourne based in the town. He ended his career at the Mildura Base Hospital as a Consulting Surgeon. As a physician he was appointed Visiting Physician to the Tuberculosis Chalet and the Mildura Chest Clinic. He was a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia.
He was an imposing man – tall, upright, with the strong Nordic features of his Viking ancestors of the Northumberland coast of England from whence his great-grandfather had emigrated to Australia. Despite his overpowering presence and a rather perverted sense of humour, he always commanded respect. He was a difficult man who at times took great delight in being as difficult as possible to people he considered incompetent. Despite this, he cared for his patients with the same meticulous attention to detail he used in any task he undertook.
He played interstate hockey for Victoria in 1928 and was an expert boxer. In his 50s, he became a very competent and competitive golfer, eventually becoming club president of the Mildura Golf Club from 1962 to 1964. In his later years he became almost a cult figure wandering along with his corgi, hitting a golf ball in the cool of the evening. The dog was the only witness of his one hole-in-one. For some years with his son he managed a citrus property, which suffered from his naturally inquisitive mind – his love of experimentation competed with its financial stability.
He married Nancy Margaret Banfield, a theatre sister at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, in 1933 and they had four children. The youngest, William, died at birth. The eldest son, John Julian, became a local horticulturist and the youngest, Anthony James, a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. His only daughter, Mary Elisabeth, is a nurse and married to a local consultant gynaecologist.
He was one of that group of early specialist trained doctors who chose to live in provincial areas, and in doing so, established medical standards there comparable to city-based practice. Intelligent and aggressive, he also had a compassionate side, demonstrated particularly in the way he cared for Nancy in her later, confused years. He died just short of the millennium in his ninety-seventh year and slid back silently into the century where he belonged.