Dr Gweneth Wisewould Print Page

A clock and portrait relief plaque erected by public subscription commemorates Dr Gweneth Wisewould (1884 - 1972) who served as the town doctor from 1938 until her death in 1972 at the age of 87.

Gweneth Wisewould was born on 30 August 1884 at Brighton, Melbourne. She was a resident at the Melbourne (1915 - 1916) and Alfred (1916) hospitals, and senior resident (1917) at the Queen's Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, before engaging in private practice at St Kilda and Elsternwick and in the city. Holding a number of honorary posts, she performed ear, nose and throat work and general surgery (1918 - 1936) at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital for Women and Children; she also instructed medical students in anaesthetics (1918 - 1929) at the Alfred Hospital.

Unconventional, artistic and mildly bohemian in outlook, Wisewould suffered from baseless allegations of professional incapacity and sexual impropriety with patients. Her practice declined and in 1938 she set up at Trentham, 95 kilometres north-west of Melbourne serving as its doctor until the day of her death at the age of 87.

 Her considerable surgical skills enabled her to deal with emergencies, whether she was obliged to operate in isolated cottages or in Trentham's tiny hospital she called her 'home from home'. She explained the singularity of her masculine apparel: 'you cannot do this work looking pretty'. Sturdily built and wrapped in an ancient greatcoat, she worked long hours and travelled tirelessly. In 1971 Wisewould published a minor medico-social classic, Outpost, an account of her life and work in the country.

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