Here is another blog written by Christopher and Vivienne Parry, and included here with thanks.
Doctor
Gordon Morrissey
In the Ingham Botanical Garden
is a fountain erected by public subscription which commemorates Doctor Gordon
Morrissey for his services as a medical practitioner to the community for
almost fifty years. The plaque reads:
“THIS FEATURE WAS
ERECTED IN 1973 BY THE RESIDENTS OF THE HERBERT RIVER DISTRICT IN
GRATEFUL MEMORY OF DR. GORDON MORRISSEY, O.B.E.WHO, FOR A PERIOD OF ALMOST
FIFTY YEARS PRIOR TO HIS DEATH IN INGHAM, ON 8TH. MARCH 1970 RENDERED OUTSTANDING
SERVICE TO THE SICK, TO CHARITY, AND TO THE COMMUNITY IN GENERAL, NOT
ONLY IN HIS PROFESSION OF MEDICINE, BUT ALSO AS A GUIDE, PHILOSOPHER AND FRIEND”.
Born and trained in Melbourne,
Gordon Morrissey came to Ingham in 1921 to enter into private practice, and in
1925 he became part-time superintendent of the Ingham hospital. He married
Stella Lawrie in 1926. She was born in Herberton but went to high school in
Townsville and completed her nursing training in Ayr. She started work at the
Ingham hospital in the 1920s, where she met Gordon Morrissey. He retired as
superintendent in 1962 but continued his private practice until he passed away
in 1970. His funeral cortege was said to be the largest ever seen in Ingham. He
was survived by his wife Stella who as resident in Canossa Home celebrated
her one hundredth birthday in 2003. Doctor Morrissey was especially
remembered for the role he played in assisting migrants, the great proportion
who were Italian, to integrate into the society of Ingham during the 1920s and
1930s.
In 1933 and 1934 there were unusually
heavy wet seasons and as a result grass and undergrowth flourished and Ingham and
surrounding farms were invaded by a plague of rats. During the harvesting
season cane cutters began arriving at the Ingham Hospital with fever. The
numbers struck down grew at an alarming rate and some died excruciating deaths.
Ninety percent of them were canecutters and most were Italian. It was clear
that something had to be done and quickly. Dr Morrissey took a professional
interest in aspects affecting health in the tropics and it was as a result of
that interest that he contributed to the clinical diagnosis of Weil’s disease
in the Herbert Valley.
The organisms responsible for Weil’s
disease were leptospira carried by rats. Cane cutters contracted the virus when
rats’ urine on the ground or on the cane stalks came in contact with cuts on
their hands and legs. Dr Morrissey suggested that a solution would be to burn
the cane which would effectively sterilize the ground and stalks. However there
were objections by the cane farmers to burning the cane and there were also
other doctors and scientists who argued that burning would not eliminate the
virus.
The cane cutters of the
Herbert River Valley went on strike in 1934 which resulted in an application by
the A.W.U. to the industrial magistrate for an order for cane to be burned in
both the Victoria and Macknade Mill areas. This put an end to the epidemic and
justified Dr Morrissey’s solution.
The government decided that
workers who suffered from Weil’s disease could get workers compensation, but it
was difficult to get it. Angelo Cardillo, a canecutter from Ingham, was
involved in a long dispute. Dr Morrissey certified him unfit to return to work,
but the Insurance Commission relied on the evidence of Sir Raphael Cilento, the
Queensland Director General of Health, who said that there would be no after
affects from Weil’s disease. It seems that Cilento was prejudiced against
Italian migrants and thought they were malingerers. Angelo lost the case, but
in later years Cilento changed his mind and agreed that there should be a long
period of convalescence after Weil’s disease. So Dr Morrissey was proven correct
again. Dr Morrissey was awarded an OBE in 1962 for his work.
Dr Morrissey also encouraged
and assisted Angiolina Borello with her work as a midwife on the far side of
the Stone River. If there were complications with a birth she would send for Dr
Morrissey, and if it was wet weather and the roads were bad, Angiolina’s two
sons would push Dr Morrissey’s car out of the notorious bog just past Trebonne.
He was one of the submissions
made by Ingham to the ‘Peoplescape’ exhibition hosted by the Commonwealth
Government on the occasion of the centenary of Federation in 2001. In that
display Doctor Morrissey was described as being ‘…SELFLESS. HE DEVOTED HIS
ATTENTION TO SERVICE, WHICH WAS UNOBTRUSIVE AND NOT THE KIND WHICH SOUGHT
RECOGNITION OR COMMENDATION. HIS INFLUENCE FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE COMMUNITY
WAS ENORMOUS – ESPECIALLY SO DURING THE DISTRICT’S MOST TROUBLED TIMES.”
Source:
Herbert
River Express clippings 1970 Hinchinbrook Shire Library local history room
Monument
Australia (online)
Bianka
Vidonja Balanzategui, Herbert River Story, Ingham: Hinchinbrook Shire
Council, 2011.
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| Memorial Plaque - dedication to Dr Gordon Carey Morrissey, Ingham Botanical Gardens (Source: Christopher Parry) |
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| Dr Gordon Morrissey with Sister Therza Marshall circa 1950 (Source: Ann Dumbledon and Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photograph Collection) |
