Gwen Fleming
{{short description|Australian physician (1916–2011)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox medical person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Gwen Fleming
| honorific_suffix = FRACP
| image = Captain Gwen Lusby, AAMC.jpg
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| birth_name = Mary Gwenyth Lusby
| birth_date = {{birth date|1916|6|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = Taree, New South Wales, Australia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|1|18|1916|6|9|df=y}}
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| education = University of Sydney (1939)
| occupation =
| years_active = 1939–1994
| known_for = First female major in the RAAMC; one of the first Australian woman thoracic physicians
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| profession = Medical doctor
| field = Thoracic medicine
| work_institutions = St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
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{{Infobox military person | embed = yes
| allegiance = {{flagicon|Australia}} Australia
| branch = Royal Australian Army Medical Corps
| serviceyears = 1939–1945
| serviceyears_label =
| rank = Major
| rank_label =
| unit = Yaralla Military Hospital
| commands = Officer Commanding the Medical Company
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Mary Gwenyth "Gwen" Fleming (née Lusby) (9 June 1916 – 18 January 2011){{cite web |url=https://members.racp.edu.au/page/library/college-roll/college-roll-detail&id=1182 |title=College Roll: Fleming, Mary Gwenyth |publisher=Royal Australasian College of Physicians |first=J |last=Fleming |date=April 2011 |accessdate=14 December 2017 |archive-date=20 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420105258/http://members.racp.edu.au/page/library/college-roll/college-roll-detail%26id%3D1182 |url-status=dead }} was an Australian medical doctor who specialised in thoracic medicine and served in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps during the Second World War.
Early life and education
Mary Gwenyth Lusby was born in Taree in 1916, the third of six children of John and Caroline Lusby.[https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2011/194/6/mary-gwenyth-gwen-fleming-mb-bs-fracp Mary Gwenyth (Gwen) Fleming MB BS, FRACP - Obituary]; Medical Journal of Australia; Med J Aust 2011; 194 (6): 316. Her maternal grandmother, Caroline Fitzhenry, had been a pioneer of health care in the Clarence River district of northern NSW, and founded the Bilongil Private Hospital at Casino, and the St Rock's Hospital at Ballina.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/98965227?searchTerm=caroline%20fitzhenry%20obituary%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits= Obituary: Mrs Caroline Fitzhenry]; Northern Star; 21 May 1942 Through the Fitzhenrys, Gwen was a cousin of the film star Errol Flynn.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/171954727?searchTerm=film%20star%27s%20relative%20dies%20at%20casino%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits= Film Star's Relative Dies at Casino]; The Telegraph (Brisbane) 21 May 1942
Gwen's father John Lusby was a school principal and classics master in country NSW, and so the family moved around the state until his eventual teaching appointment in Sydney.[http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Jack_Lusby%27s_War_Book1.pdf Jack Lusby RAAF War Journal 1942 - 1945] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222100831/http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Jack_Lusby%27s_War_Book1.pdf |date=22 February 2019 }}; by Jack Lusby (transcribed with commentary by Maria (Lusby) Simms), 2012[https://ama.com.au/ausmed/obituary AMA Obituary: Mary Gwenyth (GWEN) Fleming (1916-2011) MBBS. F.R.A.C.P.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085659/https://ama.com.au/ausmed/obituary |date=27 March 2019 }}; Australian Medical Association; 7 Mar 2011 He insisted on his daughters acquiring a high education. Gwen achieved her NSW Leaving Certificate at St George Girls High School, Kogarah in 1932 and her Baccalaureate in 1933.[http://www.sgghs.com.au/our-school/old-girls St George Girls High School: Notable ALumni]; www.sgghs.com.au; online 25 Feb 2018
She graduated as MBBS from the University of Sydney in 1939 and was among the first group of women medical graduates to pass through the University and Sancta Sophia College.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/a-trailblazer-for-female-physicians-20110204-1ague.html |title=A trailblazer for female physicians |date=5 February 2011 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |first=Justin |last=Fleming |accessdate=14 December 2017 |archive-date=13 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213210629/http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/a-trailblazer-for-female-physicians-20110204-1ague.html |url-status=dead }}
Military service
After graduation, she was appointed as a resident medical officer at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Newcastle, until she enlisted for war service.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17980078 Two Interesting Weddings]; Sydney Morning Herald; 1 May 1946
Gwen joined the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC) and, along with Captain Helen Braye, was appointed to the staff of the 113th Australian General Hospital at Concord in Feb 1942, where Captains Margery Scott-Young and Eileen Scott-Young were already serving as the only female doctors.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231764362?searchTerm=%22Lusby%22%20%2B%20concord&searchLimits=l-decade=194 Women Doctors Appointed to Military Post]; The Sun; 13 Feb 1942 In May 1942, The Daily Telegraph reported that "for the first time in the history of Australia, women doctors have been enlisted in the AIF", and that Gwen was one of six serving at Concord.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247992204?searchTerm=%22Captain%20Lusby%22&searchLimits=dateFrom=1942-01-01|||dateTo=1955-12-31|||l-title=1347 Women Doctors in Uniform]; The Daily Telegraph; 28 May 1942
Initially a Captain, Gwen was later promoted to the rank of Major.{{cite book |last1=Neuhaus |first1=Susan J. |last2=Mascall-Dare |first2=Sharon |title=Not for Glory: A century of service by medical women to the Australian Army and its Allies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMjBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |year=2014 |publisher=Boolarong Press |isbn=978-1-925046-66-3 |page=146 |via=Google Books}} Although she specialised in thoracic medicine, she oversaw all medical procedures at the hospital as Officer Commanding the Medical Company. As one of the first female majors in the RAAMC, she said that her colleagues "called me 'sir' during the war". Concord Hospital treated Allied servicemen and women as well as enemy prisoners of war. Gwen insisted on equal care being given to Japanese POWs, even as her own brother Robert Lusby of the 2/30th Battalion was suffering as a prisoner of the Japanese. At war's end, liberated Australian POWs began returning through Gwen's wards. Her search for brother Robert among the returnees ended with a telegram announcing his death in a Japanese camp two years before.[https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7790792/dominican-sister-teacher-and-prioress-elizabeth-lusby-and-her-life-well-lived/ Dominican Sister, teacher and prioress: Elizabeth Lusby and her life well lived]; The Canberra Times; June 28, 2022
Gwen’s other siblings were heavily involved in the War. Elder brother Jack Lusby, a well known cartoonist and short story writer, fought with the RAAF in the Mediterranean Theatre; and brother Maurice Lusby, was sent to Washington and London as Australian Scientific Research Liaison Officer[https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7790792/dominican-sister-teacher-and-prioress-elizabeth-lusby-and-her-life-well-lived/ Dominican Sister, teacher and prioress: Elizabeth Lusby and her life well lived]; The Canberra Times; June 28, 2022 (a radio physicist, he worked with Robert J. Oppenheimer, the atomic bomb scientist).[https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1070366/document/5519654.PDF Second World War Official Histories: Volume V – The Role of Science and Industry (1st edition, 1958)]; Chapter 19: Radar; p439[http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Jack_Lusby's_War_Book3.pdf Jack Lusby RAAF War Journal 1942 - 1945]; by Jack Lusby (transcribed with commentary by Maria (Lusby) Simms, 2012 Sister [https://www.theoclarkmedia.com/blog--gallery/invisible-unrecognised-inspirational-the-wartime-service-of-judith-follett-wrans Judith (Lusby) Follett] worked with the WRANS in naval intelligence. Youngest sister Elizabeth missed war service, but entered the Dominican Sisters at the end of the War, later becoming a teacher and prioress.[https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7790792/dominican-sister-teacher-and-prioress-elizabeth-lusby-and-her-life-well-lived/ Dominican Sister, teacher and prioress: Elizabeth Lusby and her life well lived]; The Canberra Times; June 28, 2022
In 1945, at the conclusion of the war, Gwen became one of the first women granted membership of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).
Later career
During the War, Gwen met Justin Fleming, a surgeon with the Royal Australian Air Force. The couple were married in 1946, and, after demobilisation, relocated to Oxford, in the United Kingdom, where Justin had been awarded a Nuffield Fellowship. While her husband studied for his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, Gwen became the breadwinner, working as a thoracic physician at Brentwood Hospital in Essex.Maxwell J Coleman; ''The Doers: A Surgical History of St Vincent's Hospital Sydney 1857-2007; JAM Graphics; 2018; p 246
The Flemings returned to Australia in 1950 and settled in Wollstonecraft, a suburb of Sydney. Gwen's career was largely interrupted by caring for their six children - Margaret, Paul, Justin, Judith, James and Peter - but in 1973 she nonetheless appointed Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Her husband established a career as a pioneer vascular surgeon and founded the Australian Association of Surgeons, but his shock death of a heart attack in 1974 brought Gwen back into medical practice.[https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002f341006/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E006475%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier Royal College of Surgeons - Lives of the Fellows: Fleming, Justin Paul (1917 - 1974)]; https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/; online 25 Feb 2019 She took up a post at a cancer clinic on Macquarie Street while also teaching at St Vincent's Hospital.
She retired at 77 years old and died in 2011. After Fleming's death, Marie Bashir, then Governor of New South Wales, described her as "an outstanding Australian woman who was an inspiration to so many who had the privilege of meeting her – both within the medical profession and beyond".
References
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Category:Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Category:Australian women in World War II
Category:20th-century Australian women medical doctors
Category:20th-century Australian medical doctors
Category:Medical doctors from Sydney