Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Excerpt from Blood Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australian who Served in World War 1. Courtesy of the Authors

Charles Duguid was born on the 6th April 1884 in Saltcoats, County Ayr, Scotland the eldest child of Charles Duguid a school teacher and Jane, nee Kinnier.  He attended Glasgow High School and University of Glasgow graduating with MA (1905) MB, Ch.B (1909).  He served in the Territorial Force from 1904 to 1906 whilst at University.  He left Scotland for Australia as a ships medical officer in 1911.  During the journey he met and became engaged to Irene Isabella Young who was travelling back to Australia. He immigrated to Australia the following year working his passage as a ships surgeon. He married Irene on 23 October 1912 in Melbourne and took up a practice in Minyip, Wimmera before moving to Adelaide in 1914.

Duguid enlisted in the AIF aged 32 years as a Captain in the AAMC on 12th February 1917. His service was relatively short but was sent to the Middle East moving between the 2AH at El-Arish, the 3 LHTH at Moascar and 14 AFGH at Abbas Sin.  He was returned to Australia on 17th July 1917 for a posting to the 4MD in Adelaide and his appointment terminated on 5th December 1917. Nevertheless he wrote about his experiences in two publications; From the Suez Canal to Gaza with the Australian Light Horse (1917?), and The Desert Trail (1919). 

Duguid set up a general practice in Magill on his return to Adelaide, and also worked as a surgeon at the Memorial Hospital, Adelaide. He was active in local branches of the RSL, Legacy and Toc H.  He returned to the United Kingdom for further study in 1927. His wife died suddenly at sea whilst returning to Australia with their son.  He returned to Australia and in 1930 married Phyllis Evelyn Lade. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1930. Duguid became interested in the plight of aboriginal health and in 1934 he went to Darwin to see for himself.  When he arrived in Alice Springs by train he was asked to perform emergency surgery.  He missed his connection to Darwin and stayed in Alice Springs for 3 weeks. During this time he was appalled by the treatment of the Aborigines and so began his lifelong work in the protection of Aborigines. Duguid became the first lay moderator of the Presbyterian Church in South Australia and the President of the Aborigines Protection League in 1935.  He went on to investigate conditions for Aborigines in the Musgrave Ranges in South Australia. Duguid was again appalled and with RM Williams journeyed to Ernabella and met the Pitjantjatjara people resulting in a Christian mission to serve as a “buffer between the Aborigines and the encroaching white man”. He provided medical care with the view that the responsibility be passed to the local people as soon as possible. Duguid strongly and publically criticised the British proposal to test guided weapons from a base at Woomera and resigned from the Aborigines Protection Board when it approved the proposal. Duguid was president of the District and Bush Nursing Society in South Australia from 1944 -1960.  He was awarded the OBE in 1971.  He received a letter from the Ernabella people requesting that on his death his body be buried at the mission, “so that the Aboriginals will always remember that he was one of us and that he faithfully helped us”, in 1972. He supported the Pitjantjatjara people in their claim for land rights in 1980 which was granted in 1981. Charles Duguid died on 5th December 1986 in Kent Town and was buried in the Ernabella Mission cemetery. He was survived by his second wife, their son and daughter and his son from his first marriage.