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College Roll Bio
Winton, Ronald Richmond
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Qualifications
OAM (1997) MB BS Syd (1936) FRACP (1962) FRACMA (1968)
Born
04/04/1913
Died
13/02/2004
Ronald Winton was the youngest of the three sons of Robert Richmond Winton and Lily Alethea Winton (née Kennedy). His parents met in Warren, New South Wales, where Bob Winton worked in one of the stores of Western Stores. They married in 1907 in Orange and soon afterwards moved back to Bob Winton's home territory, Campbelltown, to a small house and a shop in Railway Street. It was in this pleasant rural town, some fifty-five kilometres south of the city of Sydney that Ronald Richmond Winton was born. In his autobiography,
Johnny Head-in-Air
, he wrote affectionately of Campbelltown, its dignity and friendliness and the good education he received at the local public school and later at Parramatta High School. He entered the medical school of the University of Sydney on a public exhibition in 1930, completed his student clinical years at Sydney Hospital, then held a variety of posts in the Brisbane General Hospital from 1936 to 1940.
In 1940 Ron enlisted in the AIF and he served in the Middle East, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. By the end of World War II he had the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was then senior administrative medical officer with the director of medical services. In
Johnny Head-In-Air
he wrote: 'When I went back to Sydney, I stayed in the Army for a short period and was given the job of ADMS [assistant director of medical services] working with an old friend, the DDMS [deputy director of medical services] Colonel Alec McIntosh. I remember telling him one morning when I came into work that I had seen an advertisement in
The Medical Journal of Australia
for an assistant to the editor of the medical journal and that I found this an attractive possibility. I remember he said to me "Why don't you apply for it", and this I did. I had an interview with the editor, Dr Mervyn Archdall, and was appointed his assistant' [from 1947 to 1957]. In the preface to
New Lamps for Old
, his history of the Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists, Dr Winton wrote that much earlier in his medical career he had planned to be an ophthalmologist, but that World War II and nearly seven years of army service '…had put that idea on the shelf. When … I was reaching out for it again, I was sidetracked into medical journalism, where I happily remained'. He was editor of the
Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)
from 1957 to 1977.
In addition to his medical knowledge, Ron Winton brought to Australian medical journalism a love of literature, dedication to accurate grammar, succinct and orderly language, and a deep interest in the history of medicine and in medical ethics.
Two other medical journals benefited from his editorial skill and quiet but authoritative way:
Australasian Annals of Medicine
, from 1957 to 1970;
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery
, from 1967 to 1976.
He was also a member of the Library Committee of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians from 1967 to 1979, 1983 to 1994. He began his introduction to the catalogue of the College Library 1981 exhibition,
Humour in Medicine
, with the quotation from William Warner Bishop: 'Without a sense of the historic setting of his work a man is almost as hopeless as is the man who lacks a sense of humour. You cannot argue with the one or the other'.
Throughout his life there was a strong guiding force: his Christian faith. He did not flaunt religion, nor did he proselytise. In 1952, at the request of a committee of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, he agreed to become honorary warden of the Anglican Church's new hostel for Australian and overseas students at 'Wingham', a property situated beside Drummoyne Bay. 'Wingham' became The Hostel for University Students and International Friendship Centre. He wrote in
Johnny Head-In-Air
: 'On one matter I believe I must be very frank. Some people have expressed the view that I should have been actively involved in winning them all [the students] to faith in Christ, as many of them were not overtly Christian in their religious profession, having their background in Buddhism, Islam, or other religions. Keen as I was, and am, to share my personal faith in Christ, I did not believe that any good purpose would be served by such things as making attendance at church compulsory.' Ron was honorary warden until 'Wingham' was closed in 1972.
From 1979 to 1986 he was chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Congress of Christian Physicians, and vice-president in 1986, the year in which it merged with the International Congress of Medical Students to form the International Christian Medical and Dental Association.
In addition to his other commitments, in 1962 he accepted the invitation to succeed Keith Macarthur Brown as lecturer in the history of medicine at the University of Sydney; a position he held until 1977. The teaching of the history of medicine was one of the subjects of his paper 'The presentation of medical history' (
Med J Aust
1967, 2, 946-949.)
His interest in medical ethics led him to take an active interest in the World Medical Association, which he saw as a potential voice for and conscience of world medicine. He was a member of its Council for six years from 1967, being chairman in 1973. During most of this period he was also chairman of its Committee on Medical Ethics.
Dr Winton's contributions were formally recognised in a number of ways: Fellowship of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1962), Fellowship of The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (1968), Fellowship of the Australian Medical Association (1969), Life Governorship of the Australian Postgraduate Federation in Medicine (1976), the Gold Medal of the Australian Medical Association (1977), and the Medal of the Order of Australia (1997).
Retirement as editor of the
MJA
in 1977 allowed him to follow other pursuits at his leisure, especially travel. Nor was his pen idle. A number of books appeared, including the histories of various organisations:
The Future of Professional Freedom
(1977);
The Nature of Things: a History of The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia
(1982);
A'body's Body: the First Twenty-one Years of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (
1983);
A Christian Doctor Speaks on Dying
(1984);
An Amazing Man: Edward Gault in Three Worlds
(1987);
The Doctors' Oath
(1987);
From the Sidelines of Medicine
(1988);
Why the Pomegranate? A History of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
(1988);
New Lamps for Old: a History of The Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists
(1992);
The Doctor's Life Support: Maintaining Christian Vitality
(1994) (edited with M Crouch);
Kanematsu's Great Gift: the Story of the Kanematsu Memorial Institute at Sydney Hospital
(1997);
With Hand and Mind and Heart: a Look Back at the First Quarter Century of the Faculty of Medicine
, University of New South Wales (1999);
Johnny Head-in-Air: Memoirs of a Doctor Journalist
(2002).
In
The Doctor's Oath
he wrote: 'For a large part of my medical life I have been observing medicine and the general community from the vantage point of a medical editorial chair. In some respects I could be said to have been of the medical world but not in it. In other respects I could be said to have been of the general community but not in it. Maybe I have floated in between.'
Ronald Richmond Winton died peacefully on 13 February 2004 at Courtlands Nursing Home, North Parramatta, New South Wales, aged ninety years, much loved by his sister-in-law, nieces, great-nieces, great-great niece, great-great nephew, friends and colleagues.
Author
AM HOLSTER
References
[
Med J Aust
, 2004, 181,
1
, 26;
Med J Aust
, 1967,
2
, 948-9;
Med J Aust
, 1977,
2
, 1-3;
AMA Gazette
, 1977, June 23; RACP Library,
Humour in Medicine
, Syd, 1981; Winton, R,
Johnny Head-in-Air
, Glebe, NSW, 2002; Winton, R,
New Lamps for Old
, Syd, 1992; Winton, R,
The Doctor's Oath
, Homebush West, 1987]
Last Updated
May 30, 2018, 17:37 PM
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