Good Morning/Afternoon Mrs. Blacker and students. Today I present to you one of Australia’s most renowned war heroes – Edward “Weary” Dunlop. It is not a question whether Dunlop helped form Australia’s national identity, it is a fact. To this day, Australia still conducts ceremonies in remembrance of wars such as The Battle of Gallipoli, a.k.a Anzac Day. Today I am going to give an overview of Dunlop’s life, the wars he took part in and show to you all how Dunlop contributed to Australia’s independence and dedication.
Edward Dunlop was born on the 12th of July, 1907 in Northern Victoria. For the first 20 years of Dunlop’s life, he had a very discreet upbringing at a local public school. Dunlop then moved to Melbourne to attend the only pharmacy college in Victoria, where he was…show more content… The Australian military was in desperate need of soldiers, so Dunlop enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps as Captain. Dunlop was quick to sign up for this and it is amazing that he dropped what he had worked for his whole life for the war. This adds on to our identity of mateship. During the next two years, Dunlop served in Greece and Crete as a medical officer, and it is surprising how little trauma Dunlop had got away with after the horrible sights he would have seen. A few months later, in early 1942 Dunlop and his command were serving in Java, Indonesia. During that time, Java was overtaken by the Japanese and Dunlop became a prisoner of war. Dunlop and all the medical officers under his command were held for 6 months healing the wounded until they were moved to Thailand to work on the Burma-Thailand railway. Dunlop was constantly working around the clock saving injured, sick and malnourished men. This was where the legend of Weary Dunlop was born, as no other medical officer in the camp acted so selflessly and hardworking as Dunlop did. This was one of Dunlop’s first large contributions to Australia’s
