(1881–1963)
“Miss
Dr de Garis is a woman of medium build, physically well developed, energetical
and of serious look. Her every look, her every step, is of great importance
and significance. You could see her every morning, going over the Hospital
area and inspecting some swamps, which she had formerly ordered to be
levelled with earth. A few minutes later, you see her in a hospital
circle and so on, until the visit of patients commences.” This letter
from a patient in the hospital at Ostrovo, Macedonia, during the First
World War puts a human, though stern face, on an extraordinary doctor.
‘Clemmie’ De Garis graduated with high honours in Medicine from the
University of Melbourne. Debarred, by virtue of her sex, from sailing
with the Australian Red Cross in 1916, she took herself to England,
and served in the Manor War Hospital, Epsom, before going with the Scottish
Women’s Hospitals to Serbia. She served with such distinction that she
was awarded the Order of St Sava, Serbia, III Class.
Her Clinical Notes and Deductions of a Peripatetic (1926) sum up her
part of her subsequent career: ‘House Physician, Melbourne Hospital
and Women’s Hospital, Melbourne; Surgeon to the Muttaburra Hospital,
Queensland; Surgeon to the Tibooburra District Hospital, NSW…’
After post-graduate study overseas, De Garis took up residence in Geelong,
where she spent 30 years as Honorary Obstetrician and Honorary Consulting
Obstetrician to the Geelong and District Hospital. During that period,
before the availability of either blood transfusions or antibiotics,
she delivered more than 1000 babies without a single maternal death.
Her brother was Clement (Jack) De Garis, organiser of one of Australia’s
first national advertising campaigns. In 1919, unable to ship dried
fruits overseas, he encouraged domestic consumption with the unforgettable,
though medically questionable, couplet: I fear no more the dreaded ’flu
For Sunraysed fruits will pull me through.
