![Archibald Watson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Archibald_Watson.jpeg)
Archibald Watson
FRCS
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...
(27 July 1849 – 30 July 1940) was an Australian surgeon and professor of anatomy at the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
.
Early life
Watson was born at
Tarcutta, New South Wales
Tarcutta is a town in south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town is south-west of Sydney, east of the Hume Highway, It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2016, the town had a population of 446.
It serves a local f ...
, the son of Sydney Grandison Watson, a retired naval officer who became a squatter on the upper
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
.
He was educated at a national school in Sydney and then
Scotch College, Melbourne
(For God, for Country, and for Learning)
, established =
, type = Independent, day and boarding
, gender = Boys
, denomination = Presbyterian
, slogan =
, ...
1861–67, where he was a champion light-weight boxer. As an agent for his father, he arrived in
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
on 10 March 1871 and was aboard the second voyage of the
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
''Carl'' in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
1871–72 which was involved in
blackbirding
Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people in ...
. The captain of the ''Carl'', Joseph Armstrong, was later sentenced to death for his involvement in the massacre of islanders during the earlier 1871 voyage of the ''Carl''. Upon returning the Fiji Watson was charged with piracy in respect of the second voyage of the ''Carl'', but was later discharged from bail.
[
]
Career
![Archibald Watson 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Archibald_Watson_2.jpeg)
Watson met
Baron Ferdinand von Mueller and was advised to take up a scientific career,
[ Watson went to Europe to study medicine, obtaining the degrees of M.D., ]University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
, M.D., University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
, and F.R.C.S., England. After doing post-graduate work at Paris he was for some time demonstrator of anatomy to Professor J. Cantlie at the Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central L ...
medical school.
In 1883 he went to Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
as surgeon with Hicks Pasha's Sudan force, and in 1885 became first Elder professor of anatomy at the newly founded medical school at Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. He taught also pathology (showing an early interest in biological means of controlling the rabbit pest), surgical anatomy, and operative surgery. He held this position for 34 years. During this time, he was also responsible for the collection of human remains of Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
, some of which were shipped to overseas institutions. (In the 21st century, the Museum started pursuing an active policy of repatriation and reburial of these remains.)
During the Boer war
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
he was consulting-surgeon for the Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
field force. When World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out in 1914, though 65 years of age, Watson left Australia with the first expeditionary force as a major in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps
The Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC) is the branch of the Australian Army responsible for providing medical care to Army personnel. The AAMC was formed in 1902 through the amalgamation of medical units of the various Australian coloni ...
and became consulting-surgeon and pathologist to No. 1 Australian Stationary Hospital at Heliopolis in Egypt. He returned to Australia in 1916.[
Watson visited ]China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, where he usually watched leading surgeons perform operations; although he regarded Sydney's Sir Alexander MacCormick as superior.[
]
Late life
Watson resigned his university chair at the end of 1919 and spent many years travelling, visiting places as far apart as Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
. He journeyed round Australia gathering marine specimens and fishing. The 'Archibald Watson Prize' at the University of Adelaide was founded by public subscription in 1935. For the last two years of his life, he lived on Thursday Island
Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...
where died on 30 July 1940, three days after turning 91. He was unmarried. He is commemorated by a memorial lecture at the invitation of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand.
Known by its common acronym RACS, it is a not-for-profit organisation, sup ...
. His portrait (by William Beckwith McInnes
William Beckwith McInnes (18 May 1889 – 9 November 1939) was an Australian portrait painter, winner of the Archibald Prize seven times for his traditional style paintings. He was acting-director at the National Gallery of Victoria and an instr ...
) hangs in the Adelaide University's anatomy department.[
]
References
Additional sources listed by the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'':
:Royal Society of South Australia, ''Transactions'', 16, pt 2, 1893; ''Lone Hand'', 1 January 1914; ''Adelaide University Magazine'', 2, no 1, Sept 1919; ''Medical Journal of Australia'', 12 October 1940, p 361, 27 September 1947, p 381, 29 April 1950, p 549; Adelaide Medical Students Society, ''AMSS Review'', Aug 1961, p 19; R. G. Elmslie, 'The Colonial Career of James Patrick Murray', ''Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery'', 49, no 1, 1979; ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 20–23 Nov 1872, 1 March 1873, 30 September 1930, 30 July 1936; ''Observer'' (Adelaide), 15 February 1896, 20 January 1900, 26 May 1928; News (Adelaide), 31 July 1940; ''Chronicle'' (Adelaide), 15 August 1940; GRG 2/5/23, 43 and D5390 isc #REDIRECT ISC
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
and PRG 128/12/7 and 30/5/7-9 (State Library of South Australia); Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Archives (Melbourne); Marston collection, folders 33–71, especially MS 1682/65 no 3847-49 (National Library of Australia); Attorney-General and Justice Dept, special bundles, 1836–76, 4/2698B (State Records New South Wales); Land Claims Commission 1875–82, claim no 606, 782 998 (National Archives of Fiji, Suva).
Further reading
*Jennifer M. T. Carter, ''Painting the Islands Vermillion: Archibald Watson and the Brig "Carl"'', Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1999; ; 279 pp;
External links
The Archibald Watson Prize
at The University of Adelaide
Archibald Watson Medal and Lecture
at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Photograph of Watson and students
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Archibald
1849 births
1940 deaths
Australian surgeons
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons
People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne
People from New South Wales