Samuel Roy Burston, known affectionately by his many colleagues and friends as 'Ginger', was born in Melbourne, the son of Brigadier General James Burston, a maltster, who served with distinction at Gallipoli, and who became Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Roy Burston was educated at the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, from which he proceeded to the University of Melbourne to embark on a medical course. He graduated in medicine in 1910, soon after which he went to Adelaide where he filled a senior resident position at the Adelaide Children's Hospital. It is not generally known, but the next card played in his life was when, in 1912, he joined an expedition to the Northern Territory as a medical officer of the Aborigines Protection Board.
In 1913, he married Helen Elizabeth Culross of Adelaide, at which time he took over a general practice in a suburb of Adelaide. His medical progress continued, and he was appointed an honorary assistant physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1914, a seat of medical action and learning with which, in the years ahead he had many fruitful and helpful associations. It was at this time that he embarked on his army career, a career which over the years and embracing two World Wars, came to occupy a most prominent position throughout his life.
His activities in the Australian Army were manifold, and space permits only a reference to the main points. He was amongst the first to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in 1914, in the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC), and shortly afterwards he saw service in Egypt, Gallipoli, and later on, France. Just before leaving Australia for overseas service he had been appointed a major, and was attached to 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance. He served for several months on Gallipoli, until he contracted dysentery and typhoid fever in 1915. It is of more than passing interest that his father, Brigadier General James Burston, commanded 7 Infantry Brigade at this particular time, and it is stated that he passed through his son's hands when being evacuated from Gallipoli on medical grounds.
From Gallipoli, Ginger was posted for service in France, where his efforts were of a very high order. He was attached to 11 Field Ambulance, and was in charge of an advanced dressing station at the Battle of Messines. For his outstanding work he was mentioned in dispatches, awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 1 January 1918, and made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1919. In April 1918, he was placed in command of 1 Convalescent Depot at Le Havre, and in November of that year he was appointed commanding officer of 3 Australian General Hospital.
After the cessation of hostilities Roy Burston returned to Australia, and shortly afterwards resumed medical practice. With his interest generated by his war service and his attainments in the field, it was little surprise that in 1920, soon after returning to Adelaide, he was appointed Deputy Director of Medical Services (DDMS) of the 4th Military District. He retained this appointment until 1939, when he vacated the office to join the Second AIF.
Between the two World Wars he built up a large medical practice, in the main as a consultant physician. He also resumed his work as an honorary physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and in 1933, after a trip to the UK, he was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, being elected to Fellowship of that College in 1937.
Further medical distinctions came his way when he was elected a foundation Fellow of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938, and he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, London, in 1945. He was a lecturer and examiner in clinical medicine in the University of Adelaide from 1933 to 1939, and was a member of the council of the British Medical Association (South Australia branch) from 1937 to 1939. Ginger was very much liked and respected by his many patients, in no small way due to the excellent rapport he was able to establish with them. His kindness was manifest also to his friends, and it can be truthfully said that he could mix equally well with the highest and the most lowly in the land.
He had a likeness for, and interest in the various clubs of which he was a member, and a brief reference can be made to his sporting activities. He was keen on tennis and golf, in both of which games he was an active and capable participant. But perhaps his greatest sporting interest was in horse racing, and this culminated in his being appointed chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club in 1952, for he had been living in Melbourne since the end of the Second World War. Such was the respect held for him at this racing club that when a fine new grandstand was completed in 1958, it was named the SR Burston Stand. Roy Burston also enjoyed swimming and surfing, and in 1927, he was awarded the Royal Humane Society's bronze medal for the rescue of a boy in boisterous surf at Petrel Cove, close to Victor Harbor, South Australia.
At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Roy Burston was DDMS 4th Military District. He immediately enlisted in the Second AIF, and shortly afterwards proceeded to Melbourne. There he was appointed Assistant Director Medical Services 6th Division, and in 1940 DDMS 1 Australian Corps, with the rank of brigadier. He accompanied the Corps to the Middle East, and soon afterwards his appointment was that of Director of Medical Services.
He served with distinction in the Middle East, and shortly after the return of the AIF to Australia in 1942, reached the pinnacle of his Army career when he was made Director General of Medical Services Allied Land Headquarters, South-West Pacific. He occupied this position from 1942 to 1945, with the rank of major-general. He continued to hold this position during the demobilisation period, finally being retired from the Army in January 1948.
In passing it can be mentioned that Roy Burston was 'persona grata' with Sir Thomas Blamey, who was General Officer Commanding of the Australian Army. One may conjecture that leading to this rapport between the one and the other was Burston's general knowledge of human beings, their mutual previous service in the 1st AIF, his kindly but firm nature, and his ability to use considerable tact in deliberations with his superior officer.
In 1945, he was made honorary physician to King George VI. He was placed on the retired list in 1948, and before this he had retired from the staff of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he had been an inpatient physician since 1933.
He and Lady Burston had become domiciled in Melbourne, and he had been appointed medical adviser to the Australian Red Cross, the National Mutual Life Association of Australia, and the Nuffield Advisory Committee of Australia. He was also chief commissioner of the St John Ambulance: Brigade, in which organisation he was created a Knight of Grace of the Order in 1945. He was also Receiver General of the Priory of St John in Australia. Ginger was active in the business community, as a director of a number of mining companies and also of the Melbourne Age newspaper.
He had a strong liking for his fellow human beings, and he could be described as a good popular club man, using this description in its most pleasant sense. The culmination of the honours and distinctions which came to him was in 1952, when he was created a Knight in the Order of the British Empire.
Ginger had a very happy home life with his wife Helen. They had two sons and one daughter. The elder son, Sam, a pastoralist, was himself created a knight bachelor in 1977, the second son Robin became a consultant physician and developed an interest in a land property, and their daughter, Helen Elizabeth, married a consultant physician.
Roy Burston had very many admirable features in his character, and it is difficult in a sentence or so to summarise his illustrious career. He had a most likeable personality, and throughout his life maintained a sense of humility, although he could be most forceful in his opinion when a principle he believed in was at stake. He had a great love for his Army work, to which he adapted himself readily and with courage, finally occupying its most senior administrative post. His leadership qualities were always obvious, and he had the happy ability of choosing very able men to occupy high positions in their respective spheres under his direction. More than that, he was able to extract from them, as indeed from the rest of the AAMC, that very necessary quality of loyalty.