Geoffrey Rosevear Kurrle was born in Maffra, Victoria, the son of Gerald Kurrle and his wife Martha (nee Eddie.) Geoffrey had one brother, Ernest. He married Helen Esther Elizabeth (nee Mullett) and they had two daughters, Helen and Ruth.

He was educated at Bendigo High School and then St Thomas’s Grammar School, Essendon. He studied pharmacy at the Melbourne Pharmacy College qualifying in 1927. Whilst running a pharmacy practice in partnership, he and his brother both studied medicine at Melbourne University. He graduated MBBS in 1935. He obtained his MD in 1949 and his Diploma in Therapeutic Radiology in 1953, both from the University of Melbourne. He was made a Fellow of the College of Radiologists of Australia (later FRANZCR) in 1960. In 1965 he was awarded FRACP.

After graduation he did his residency at the Brisbane Hospital and then commenced practice at Enoggera on the outskirts of Brisbane. He volunteered for military service in 1941 following the outbreak of World War II. He was attached to the 19th Field Ambulance Medical Corps, served in New Guinea, and was discharged with the rank of Major in 1946.

He then resumed practice as a specialist physician on Wickham Terrace in Brisbane. In 1950 he moved back to Melbourne as a founding staff member of the Peter MacCallum Clinic. He remained on the staff of “Peter Mac” for the remainder of his professional life, retiring in 1979.

Dr Kurrle spent most of his professional life practising as a radiation oncologist. In 1956, having obtained his radiotherapy qualifications, he received a Nuffield Foundation grant to study the latest developments in cancer treatment. He subsequently became Medical Director of Peter Macallum between 1966 and 1970 and held appointments as radiotherapist to the Royal Children’s, Royal Melbourne, Royal Women’s, Queen Victoria, Prince Henry’s and Alfred Hospitals. In the last part of his career he was Head of the Gynaecology Service at Peter Macallum. He was also closely associated with the Royal Women’s Hospital with a particular interest in brachytherapy.

He was a member of the Cancer Institute Board of Victoria in 1956 and of the Radiation Health Standing Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Dr Kurrle was a natural linguist speaking German and Spanish. He had a particular interest in Hispanic culture. He also had an interest in history, films, theatre and literature, especially Shakespeare, Marlowe and Dickens. He was a keen supporter of the Essendon Football Club.