Andrew Russell Murray FRCSEd (22 August 1910 – 1 December 1955) was an Australian orthopaedic surgeon who pioneered developments in hand surgery while working at Leith Hospital, Scotland. These included pollicisation ( the transfer of the index finger to replace a missing thumb), the use of stainless steel joint

prostheses In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

to replace finger joints and the use of wire to stabilise finger fractures and bone grafts. He later worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in Brisbane, Australia. On 1 December 1955 he was shot dead by

Karl Kast Siegfred Karl Kast (c. 1916 – 1 December 1955) was a German immigrant to Australia who shot dead two doctors and unsuccessfully attempted to detonate a bomb in Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, before committing suicide. Incident On Thursday, 1 De ...

in the "Brisbane medical massacre".

Early life and education

Murray was born in Lyell, Tasmania, Australia, in 1910, the son of Russell Mervyn Murray, a mining engineer, and his wife Vivienne Murray (née Douglas). He went to school at Scotch College, Melbourne, and then studied medicine at

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. Hi ...

in the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. Two accidents in childhood had resulted in disabilities. His left leg had been amputated after a shooting accident. In a separate accident he sustained a permanent

nerve injury Nerve injury is an injury to nervous tissue. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injuries. In 1941, Seddon introduced a classification of nerve injuries based on three main types of nerve f ...

of the left

ulnar nerve In human anatomy, the ulnar nerve is a nerve that runs near the ulna bone. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest in the human body unprotected by muscle or bone, so injury is ...

resulting in impaired function of the hand. Despite these setbacks he became an "accomplished cricketer and ballroom dancer" at university. He graduated

MB BS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

in 1936. During residency posts at the

Alfred Hospital The Alfred Hospital, also known as The Alfred or Alfred Hospital, is a leading tertiary teaching hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. It is the second oldest hospital in Victoria, and the oldest Melbourne hospital still operating on its original site ...

in Melbourne he decided to become a surgeon.

Career in Scotland

Murray took a temporary post as assistant surgeon at the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

and in 1941 he was appointed associate assistant surgeon at Leith Hospital, where he became surgeon in charge of a hand clinic. He qualified as fellow of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located on ...

(FRCSEd) in 1943. In 1946 Murray published techniques in hand surgery which, according to Hooper, had not been previously described. These included pollicisation (the transfer of the index finger on a neurovascular pedicle to replace a missing thumb), the transfer of a finger from one hand to the other, joint replacement of finger joints using stainless steel hinge joints and the use of wire to fix bone grafts in the hand. The clinic which Murray established was an early example of a specialist multidisciplinary hand clinic, incorporating physiotherapy and rehabilitation which included vocational training. Hooper considered that this was "the more remarkable for being developed by a young surgeon working in a small, busy hospital in wartime." Morrison considered that Murray's achievements in hand surgery included three which he believed to be the first in the world. These were the first artificial joint prosthesis in hand joints, the first interosseous wiring for finger fractures and the first index finger pollicisation for thumb reconstruction, which had been previously attributed to Gosset, who had published his first paper on the topic in 1949, three years after Murray's publication on the topic. When medical personnel returning from war service were given preference in appointment to permanent hospital posts in the UK, Murray was not appointed to a permanent post in Edinburgh and worked for a short time at the

Royal Oldham Hospital The Royal Oldham Hospital is a NHS hospital in the Coldhurst area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has its own volunteer-run radio station, Radio Cavell, which ...

, Lancashire, before returning to Australia in 1948.

Career in Australia

Murray worked in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Queensland, as orthopaedic surgeon with Arthur Meehan as his main colleague. From Brisbane Hospital he published research work on lumbar disc prolapse. His main interest remained hand surgery and he published studies on hand sepsis and carpal tunnel syndrome. He was instrumental in setting up a school of occupational therapy in Brisbane.

The Brisbane medical massacre

Murray was shot dead in the "Brisbane medical massacre".

, a naturalised Australian who was familiar with explosives, sought compensation for an alleged back injury. He had consulted six orthopaedic surgeons, none of whom supported his claim. On 1 December 1955 he made his way to the doctors' offices in Wickham House, Brisbane, armed with of explosives and a .38 pistol. Here he shot Dr Michael Gallagher, wounding him in the forearm. He then made his way down

Wickham Terrace Wickham Terrace is one of the historic streets of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known as the street of private medical specialists. Geography Wickham Terrace commences at the western corner of the intersection of Ann Street and Whar ...

to doctors' offices in

Ballow Chambers Ballow Chambers is a heritage-listed office building at 121 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1924 to 1926 by John Hutchinson. ...

where he shot dead Arthur Meehan and then Murray. Katz then detonated bombs in the office of John Lahz, before shooting himself through the head.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Andrew Russell 1910 births 1955 deaths People from Tasmania People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne University of Melbourne alumni Melbourne Medical School alumni Australian orthopaedic surgeons 20th-century surgeons People murdered in Australia Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Australian amputees