Person

Birrell, John Henry Winter (1924 - 2003)

OAM ISO

Born
29 December 1924
St Kilda, Victoria, Australia
Died
25 March 2003
Occupation
Physician

Summary

John Birrell was police surgeon 1957-1977. He campaigned for road safety and was involved in the introduction of seatbelt laws and the blood alcohol limit of 0.05 per cent in Victoria.

Details

Chronology

1942 - 1943
Military service - Second World War. Served in the Australian Imperial Force
1952 - 1956
Career position - Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Victoria
1952 - 1956
Career position - Lecturer in Pathology, University of Melbourne
1956 - 1957
Career position - Assistant Coroner's Pathologist
1957 - 1977
Career position - Police Surgeon in Victoria
1967 - 1977
Career position - Member of the International Committee for Alcohol and Traffic Safety
1977
Career position - Chairman, 7th Conference on Alcohol and traffic Safety in Melbourne
1978
Award - Companion of the Imperial Service Order (ISO) - Police Surgeon in Victoria
1997
Award - Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) - In recognition of service to medicine and the community through the introduction of measures to reduce alcohol related road trauma and as an advocate of child abuse as a significant social problem
2001
Award - Centenary Medal - For service to the community through road safety

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • Biographical cuttings on Dr John Henry Winter Birrell, police surgeon, Cuttings Files BIOG; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Birrell, J. H. W., Twenty Years as a Police Surgeon (Ringwood: Brolga Publishing, 2004), 104 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Birrell, J., 'Mollison, Crawford Henry (1863-1949), medical and forensic pathologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 540-541. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100530b.htm. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • Gibb, Donald, 'Obituary: John Henry Winter Birrell, OAM, Former police surgeon, general practitioner', The Age (2003). Details

Resources

Ailie Smith

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