Ipswich Hospital’s First Paediatrician

Hamilton Stuart Patterson - son of Mervyn Stuart Patterson (1885-1978), esteemed Ipswich General Practitioner for 61 years was born in Aramac Western Queensland in 1911. The family relocated to Ipswich and he was educated at Ipswich Grammar School.

Patterson trained at Edinburgh Medical School and the Royal Infirmary (MB ChB 1938, LRCP LRCS, 1938, LRFPS Glas 1938, DCG Glas,1938) and returned to Brisbane as Ship’s Surgeon aboard the SS Demodocus accompanied by his wife Uletta, following their recent marriage.

On arrival in Brisbane he worked as RMO at the Brisbane General Hospital and Hospital for Sick Children. He then went on to become House Surgeon to Professor ES Meyers.

In 1940 he relocated to Ipswich to join his father’s practice, was appointed Honorary Visiting Medical Officer at Ipswich General Hospital and was commissioned in the Australian Army Medical Corps. Following his military service he returned to practice in Ipswich and in 1961 was appointed Visiting Paediatrician at the Ipswich General Hospital. As such it was necessary for him to resign his appointment as Visiting Clinical Assistant Physician at the Mater Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, and as a member of the Ipswich Hospitals’ Board. He remained as Visiting Paediatrician until 1975, when he relocated his practice to Mooloolaba. He was awarded an AM in 1994 and he passed away in 2004.

Dr Patterson was instrumental in the formation of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in which he served as President in 1963.