William Laurence MACDONALD1900–1986

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

Oswestry. He returned there in 1960 and had the honor of unveiling a plaque to commemorate a Commonwealth Ward.

During World War II, Macdonald was in the Middle East with the Sixth Australian Hospital.

He was evacuated from Greece and Crete and then joined his orthopedic colleague John Colquhoun at the Second Australian Hospital in Egypt, where they formed a special orthopedic unit. When the hospital returned to Australia, this unit became the First Australian Orthopedic Hos- pital. It was first based at Mt. Eliza in Victoria and later moved to Toowoomba and finally to Brisbane in Queensland.

After World War II, Laurie Macdonald contin- ued his orthopedic practice with a special interest in pediatrics. He was an honorary orthopedic surgeon to Sydney Hospital, the Royal North Shore Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. His early training at Oswestry, in pre-antibiotic days, gave him a conservative approach to most surgical problems. When the British volume of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery was established in 1948, Macdonald was appointed, with A.V. Meehan, as one of the first Australian representatives on the editorial board.

He was later made an honorary fellow of the British Orthopedic Association. He was president of the Australian Orthopedic Association in 1959 and 1960 and made an honorary fellow in 1968.

He was also a staunch supporter of the Royal Aus- tralasian College of Surgeons and served on the Court of Examiners for several years.

Like his friend and colleague John Colquhoun in Melbourne, Laurie retained pride in his Scottish ancestry and they shared a lifelong enjoyment in playing golf. He and his charming wife Eula were regular members at all the annual meetings of the Australian Orthopedic Associa- tion and in later years he was welcomed with the warmth, respect and affection accorded to an elder statesman. It is indeed sad that he was not able to be present at the celebration of the Jubilee of the Association that had played such an impor- tant part in his life. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and four grandchildren.

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William Laurence MACDONALD

1900–1986

The Australian Orthopedic Association lost one of its principal founders during the year that it was preparing to celebrate its Golden Jubilee. In 1936, Laurence Macdonald returned to Australia after 8 years’ postgraduate study in orthopedics in the United Kingdom and, with his colleague Alex Hamilton, persuaded the more senior orthopedic surgeons in Sydney to form a new association based on the British Orthopedic Association. The first meeting of this new association was held in 1936 with 15 foundation members, E.B.M. Vance was elected president, A.R. Hamilton honorary secretary, and W.L. Macdonald editorial secre- tary. Macdonald and Hamilton continued to play a dominant role in the new association and both survived all their other foundation colleagues.

Laurie Macdonald graduated in medicine from

the University of Sydney in 1924 and spent 4

years as a resident medical officer at several hos-

pitals in Sydney, including the Royal Alexandra

Hospital for Children. In 1928 he went to

Liverpool on the advice of E.B.M. Vance, and

obtained the degree MCh(Orth) and also the

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of

Edinburgh. During his course at Liverpool he was

invited by Sir Robert Jones to fill a vacancy as

medical officer at the Shropshire Orthopedic Hos-

pital. Macdonald accepted on the condition that

he would stay for only 3 months. In fact he stayed

for 5 years and for the last 3 years was resident

surgical officer there. This was at a time when

Australians filled the majority of the posts at