Albert Coates (1895-1977) was born in Ballarat in Central Victoria, oldest of seven children of strong Methodists Arthur and Clara Coates. Although money was short, Arthur and Clara raised their family valuing education. Albert had a thirst for literature and knowledge, but his formal education ended at 11. At first he worked in a butcher's shop on Saturdays only, then he worked 6 days a week. At 14 was indentured to a Ballarat bookbinder, which gave the lad the chance to read widely and study at night.
Encouraged by night-school at Ballarat, Coates passed the junior public examination with distinctions in French and German in 1913. But Coates wanted a career in medicine. He qualified for Melbourne University but as he could not afford to take his place on financial grounds, he moved to Wangaratta. There he worked in the Postal Department and studied in his spare time.
World War One and after
By 1914 Coates was able start a university medical course, however WW1 intervened. He was an idealistic 19 year old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Aug 1914, as a medical orderly attached to the 7th Battalion. His time on board ship was spent assisting the doctor inoculating the men against typhoid. Coates also studied German on board and in Egypt he continued his study of his favourite languages, plus Arabic, at Berlitz School.
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A stature of Albert Coates in tatty WW2 clothing, Ballarat
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Operating in the prisoner-of-war hospital, Nakom Paton Thailand
Padang (West Sumatra) was occupied by the Japanese three weeks later. Now a prisoner of the Japanese, Dr Coates was sent to Burma in May 1942. At the notorious camps on the Burma-Thailand Railway he cared for hundreds of prisoners of war. He later told the International Military Tribunal for the Far East that he worked in a bamboo lean-to, with his only instruments a knife, two pairs of artery forceps and a butcher’s saw. Conditions were deplorable, the Japanese treatment was brutal and the death rate high.
In Dec 1943 the Japanese sent Coates to Thailand. From March 1944 he was chief medical officer of a huge prisoner-of-war hospital at Nakom Paton where he was responsible for providing artificial limbs, transfusions and surgical appliances.
Post WW2
With the cessation of hostilities, Coates returned to Melbourne in Oct 1945, and resumed his medical career. He resumed work as honorary surgeon to in-patients at RMH, and as the Stewart lecturer in surgery. He was president of the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association, a delegate to the International Red Cross at Monte Carlo Monaco, president of the War Nurses Memorial Centre Melbourne, and was on the board of management of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Coates was a delegate for the RSL at the Japanese Peace Talks and in 1946 he gave compassionate evidence at the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo. In 1951 he went to San Francisco for the signing of the Peace Treaty with Japan.
In 1953 he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and in 1955 received a knighthood. After retirement, in 1977, Coates and Newman Rosenthal published The Albert Coates Story. Dr Coates died in Oct 1977 at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
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The Albert Coates Story
Encouraged by night-school at Ballarat, Coates passed the junior public examination with distinctions in French and German in 1913. But Coates wanted a career in medicine. He qualified for Melbourne University but as he could not afford to take his place on financial grounds, he moved to Wangaratta. There he worked in the Postal Department and studied in his spare time.
World War One and after
By 1914 Coates was able start a university medical course, however WW1 intervened. He was an idealistic 19 year old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Aug 1914, as a medical orderly attached to the 7th Battalion. His time on board ship was spent assisting the doctor inoculating the men against typhoid. Coates also studied German on board and in Egypt he continued his study of his favourite languages, plus Arabic, at Berlitz School.
The plaques along the ground tell the Coates story
Coates was on board the fleet that headed for Gallipoli in April 1915, survived and was one of the last to leave the peninsula in Dec 1915. His battalion was transferred to France in March 1916 and fought in the Battle of the Somme. In Feb 1917 he was attached to the intelligence staff to use his languages as the battalion's interpreter.
He left France in Oct 1918 and returned with other Anzacs to Australia for a short stay, but the war ended a few weeks later in any case. Sir John Monash and British authorities recognised his ability and, at the end of the war, he was invited to apply for a commission in the British Army. But Coates was finally at home, so he worked in the office of the Commonwealth censor in Melbourne.
Late in 1919 he returned to the Post Office where he continued to work at night while studying medicine at the University of Melbourne in the day. In March 1921 he married Harriet Hicks (d1934) at the Methodist Church, Camberwell; they had a son and three daughters.
Coates was one of the top students in his year, gaining 1st-class honours in anatomy and the exhibition in pathology. He graduated in 1924 with 1st-class honours in all subjects and was offered the Stewart Lectureship in anatomy, the opportunity to develop his teaching ability.
In 1925 Dr Coates was a resident at Royal Melbourne Hospital/RMH. He then worked with Prof Richard Berry in the university's department of anatomy, first as a Stewart lecturer (1925-26) and then as acting-professor (1927). Back at Royal Melbourne Hospital, he was appointed honorary surgeon to out-patients in 1927 and to in-patients in 1935. He was soon appointed Honorary Surgeon to Outpatients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Interest in neurosurgery grew. Following his wife's death in 1934, Coates visited surgical centres in Britain, Europe and North America; shortly after his return he was asked to establish the neurosurgical unit at RMH. In Dec 1936 he married Catherine Anderson in Dunedin NZ. On his return he formed a neurosurgical unit, and later in 1940 a number of surgeons formed the Neurosurgical Society of Australia.
WW2
From 1936 to 1940 Dr Coates was a lecturer in surgical anatomy at Melbourne University. He enlisted again and in Jan 1941 he was called up, aged 45. Appointed lieutenant colonel and Senior Surgeon to the second AIF in Malaya, Coates was posted to the Australian General Hospital at Malacca, Malaya. After the Japanese invaded the Malay Peninsula in Dec, the medical unit fell back to Singapore; Coates was ordered to sail in Feb 1942 for Java in the Dutch East Indies. The convoy was bombed and the survivors reached Tembilahan Sumatra.
Coates was on board the fleet that headed for Gallipoli in April 1915, survived and was one of the last to leave the peninsula in Dec 1915. His battalion was transferred to France in March 1916 and fought in the Battle of the Somme. In Feb 1917 he was attached to the intelligence staff to use his languages as the battalion's interpreter.
He left France in Oct 1918 and returned with other Anzacs to Australia for a short stay, but the war ended a few weeks later in any case. Sir John Monash and British authorities recognised his ability and, at the end of the war, he was invited to apply for a commission in the British Army. But Coates was finally at home, so he worked in the office of the Commonwealth censor in Melbourne.
Late in 1919 he returned to the Post Office where he continued to work at night while studying medicine at the University of Melbourne in the day. In March 1921 he married Harriet Hicks (d1934) at the Methodist Church, Camberwell; they had a son and three daughters.
Coates was one of the top students in his year, gaining 1st-class honours in anatomy and the exhibition in pathology. He graduated in 1924 with 1st-class honours in all subjects and was offered the Stewart Lectureship in anatomy, the opportunity to develop his teaching ability.
In 1925 Dr Coates was a resident at Royal Melbourne Hospital/RMH. He then worked with Prof Richard Berry in the university's department of anatomy, first as a Stewart lecturer (1925-26) and then as acting-professor (1927). Back at Royal Melbourne Hospital, he was appointed honorary surgeon to out-patients in 1927 and to in-patients in 1935. He was soon appointed Honorary Surgeon to Outpatients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Interest in neurosurgery grew. Following his wife's death in 1934, Coates visited surgical centres in Britain, Europe and North America; shortly after his return he was asked to establish the neurosurgical unit at RMH. In Dec 1936 he married Catherine Anderson in Dunedin NZ. On his return he formed a neurosurgical unit, and later in 1940 a number of surgeons formed the Neurosurgical Society of Australia.
WW2
From 1936 to 1940 Dr Coates was a lecturer in surgical anatomy at Melbourne University. He enlisted again and in Jan 1941 he was called up, aged 45. Appointed lieutenant colonel and Senior Surgeon to the second AIF in Malaya, Coates was posted to the Australian General Hospital at Malacca, Malaya. After the Japanese invaded the Malay Peninsula in Dec, the medical unit fell back to Singapore; Coates was ordered to sail in Feb 1942 for Java in the Dutch East Indies. The convoy was bombed and the survivors reached Tembilahan Sumatra.
Photo credit: Australian War Memorial
Padang (West Sumatra) was occupied by the Japanese three weeks later. Now a prisoner of the Japanese, Dr Coates was sent to Burma in May 1942. At the notorious camps on the Burma-Thailand Railway he cared for hundreds of prisoners of war. He later told the International Military Tribunal for the Far East that he worked in a bamboo lean-to, with his only instruments a knife, two pairs of artery forceps and a butcher’s saw. Conditions were deplorable, the Japanese treatment was brutal and the death rate high.
In Dec 1943 the Japanese sent Coates to Thailand. From March 1944 he was chief medical officer of a huge prisoner-of-war hospital at Nakom Paton where he was responsible for providing artificial limbs, transfusions and surgical appliances.
Post WW2
With the cessation of hostilities, Coates returned to Melbourne in Oct 1945, and resumed his medical career. He resumed work as honorary surgeon to in-patients at RMH, and as the Stewart lecturer in surgery. He was president of the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association, a delegate to the International Red Cross at Monte Carlo Monaco, president of the War Nurses Memorial Centre Melbourne, and was on the board of management of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Coates was a delegate for the RSL at the Japanese Peace Talks and in 1946 he gave compassionate evidence at the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo. In 1951 he went to San Francisco for the signing of the Peace Treaty with Japan.
In 1953 he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and in 1955 received a knighthood. After retirement, in 1977, Coates and Newman Rosenthal published The Albert Coates Story. Dr Coates died in Oct 1977 at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
by Albert Coates, and Newman Rosenthal
Published by Hyland House, Melbourne in 1977
A statue in Ballarat commemorates Albert Coates, the doctor who was a Prisoner of War of the Japanese during WW2. A portrait by the official war artist Murray Griffin is held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; and another by Louis Kahan is with the family. In 1971 contracts were signed for the construction of the Union building, library and student housing at Federation University Ballarat. In Sept 2006, the original Union Building was renamed the Albert Coates Complex. Every year Fed Uni holds the Sir Albert Coates Oration, in collaboration with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust.
What an extraordinary life!
Published by Hyland House, Melbourne in 1977
A statue in Ballarat commemorates Albert Coates, the doctor who was a Prisoner of War of the Japanese during WW2. A portrait by the official war artist Murray Griffin is held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; and another by Louis Kahan is with the family. In 1971 contracts were signed for the construction of the Union building, library and student housing at Federation University Ballarat. In Sept 2006, the original Union Building was renamed the Albert Coates Complex. Every year Fed Uni holds the Sir Albert Coates Oration, in collaboration with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust.
What an extraordinary life!