Lumen Summer 2015 - Flipbook - Page 5
War
To ensure South Australians understood
why the sacrifices were being made,
University professors held lectures in
Adelaide and country centres explaining
the issues at stake. By working
through vacations students were able
to complete courses early to join the
war effort and many concessions were
granted to returned servicemen so they
could finish their degrees, providing
standards were maintained. When the
war finally ended in November 1918, 61
staff, students and graduates had been
killed and many more were injured.
The University continues to remember
those sacrifices made. Earlier this
year Deputy Vice-Chancellor and
Vice-President (Academic), Professor
Pascale Quester, represented the
University at the ANZAC Day dawn
service in Adelaide and Catherine
Branson QC, University Council member
and distinguished alumna, travelled
Doctors for
the frontline
Treating the wounded during World
War I became a major challenge for
the allied forces as the terrible injury
toll mounted.
The University of Adelaide’s Faculty of
Medicine responded to an urgent call
for more doctors at the frontline by fasttracking its medical degree. The Defence
Department issued an alert stating
that 100 doctors were immediately
wanted for the Royal Medical Service in
addition to those urgently needed for the
Australian Military Service.
To help meet the demand, medical
students at Adelaide volunteered to
continue their studies during vacation
periods so that qualifying exams could
be held two months earlier. Teachers in
the Faculty of Medicine readily accepted
the proposal and continued their lectures
during the scheduled breaks.
to Gallipoli with her husband on an
intercultural study tour.
Catherine, former President of the
Australian Human Rights Commission,
laid a wreath on behalf of the
University at the Lone Pine
Memorial and said of the
occasion: “I felt privileged
to be able, on behalf of
the University, to honour
those of our teachers and
scholars who so tragically
lost their lives on this
beautiful peninsular - so
far from those who loved
and cared for them.”
Above: Catherine
Branson QC at Lone Pine
Below: soldiers in Egypt
Rotten luck
Clive Britten Burden was among the many medical
graduates from Adelaide who had his studies
accelerated so he could join the war effort –
but he died in tragic circumstances.
After spending a month in the
trenches in France he caught
measles and was invalided to
England. Still weak from illness,
he was on day leave when
he fainted in the underground
and fell under a train. Both
legs and his left arm were
amputated in hospital.
Despite his injuries, Burden
was still able to make light of
the tragedy: “Is it not rotten
luck that, after being for
months in France, this silly
thing should happen
to me? I fainted and fell,
because I felt weak and ill.”
Burden died a few days later
on 8 May 1917
and was buried
with full military
honours.
Left: MBBS
graduates 1916.
Clive Britten
Burden top row,
left (standing).
|e University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 3
