Salome Jean White (1905 – 15 July 1974) was the first female flying medical doctor in Australia and the world when she commenced work with the

Australian Inland Mission The Australian Presbyterian Mission was founded by the Presbyterian Church of Australia to reach those "beyond the farthest fence" with God's Word. It is better known as the Australian Inland Mission (AIM). Rev. John Flynn was the first superi ...

in May 1937. She was known as the Guardian Angel of the Gulf.

Early life and education

Salome Jean White was born in 1905. Her parents were John White ( - 26 January 1935), a school teacher, and Salome White (née Williams) ( - 15 June 1951) of 32 Havelock Road,

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

. The family also owned a farm near Ballarat. She was the elder sister to John George Glyn White

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(9 April 1909 - 2 November 1987) and Mary Margaret Freda White (later Guest), both of whom were also doctors. White attended

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 ...

and received a scholarship to attend

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 no ...

, where she graduated in 1929 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.

Career

She worked at the

Royal Melbourne Hospital The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...

Adelaide Children's Hospital The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on King William Road in North Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Fli ...

Crown Street Women's Hospital Crown Street Women's Hospital (now-closed) was once the largest maternity hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was located at 351 Crown Street (corner of Crown and Albion Streets), Surry Hills. The hospital was one of severa ...

and

Caulfield Convalescent Hospital Caulfield Hospital is a hospital based in Melbourne, Victoria, originally opened as the ''No. 11 Australian General Hospital'' in 1916. It focuses on rehabilitation, care, and mental health, particularly for the elderly. It is situated on Kooyon ...

before responding to an advertisement for doctors to work in remote areas of Australia. She undertook four months of training at

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known a ...

before being based with one nurse at Normanton. Together, with a pilot flying an aircraft donated by

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

, they offered a seven-day aerial medical service covering 65,000 square miles of the Gulf Country. From September 1938, White was also supervising a newly opened nursing hospital at Dunbar Station.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jean 1905 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Australian medical doctors 20th-century Australian women medical doctors Australian women medical doctors Australian medical doctors Medical doctors from Melbourne 20th-century Australian women