Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

CHEESMAN Graham Frank MB BS

1922-2004

Graham Frank Cheesman was born on 19th July 1922 in Adelaide. He was the only child of Frank William Owen Cheesman, a dentist, and Lena Alvaretta, nee Stephenson. He was educated at Scotch College where he was an excellent athlete and held records in hurdling, as well as winning other events including the 100 yards race and shot putting. In his last year at Scotch College he was Deputy Captain of the College and Dux of the College. He was a member of the school cadet unit.  He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, commencing in 1941 and graduated in 1946. Cheesman had a major interest in tennis and was in the university's district tennis team. At university he maintained his sporting prowess and became South Australia's champion hurdler. He also played as a ruckman for Sturt in the South Australian Football League. He completed his residency year at the RAH and was known for taking a motor bike up in the lift at the hospital.

Cheesman had joined the Army as a private soldier on 20th December 1941 in the Citizen Military Force and was discharged on the 27th February 1942 and, as with others of his era, was persuaded to complete his medical studies. He re-joined the Army in the Australian Army Medical Corps with the Regimental number SX700019 in 1947 on completion of his residential year. He was posted to Japan in the BCOF. He was promoted to Major and posted to 130 AGH. He served from 3rd September 1947 to the 6th January 1949. He had an Army driving licence for both cars and trucks. There was clearly a lot of time for playing tennis and one of his colleagues was Major John Nelson Diggle a celebrated tennis player. He played doubles with Diggle and they won matches together, but was runner up to him in the singles matches. He continued to play tennis into his eighties.

Cheesman returned to Adelaide in 1949 and was appointed as a Registrar at the Adelaide Children's Hospital and the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital for two years. He then decided to enter general practice and did so with Dr (later Sir) Leonard Mallen in Riverton, who was considered a leading country general practitioner. He married Clarice Joy Kuss on 24th June 1950 in Scots Church, North Terrace, Adelaide, they later divorced. They had three children. Cheesman set up his own general practice, in 1955, at Warradale and the Dover Gardens area of Adelaide, This area of his practice was a new suburb of Adelaide in the 1950s with many young families opting to live there. His preferred hospital was the Glenelg Community Hospital, which, in those early days, was entirely a maternity hospital. He had a major interest in obstetrics and delivered some five thousand babies during his time in practice; an extraordinary number for a general practitioner. He married Marian Reilly, who had three children, on 30th November 1974. Cheesman continued to work part time, after he retired from fulltime practice, at the Morphettville Medical Centre.

He remained in his general practice until, due to ill health, he retired in 1992. He had endeared himself to patients and colleagues alike because of his energy, and gentlemanly manner and he believed life should be lived to the full. He had a love of fast cars, usually Buicks. One of his colleagues was Dean Hicks who always drove Jaguars and when he died he bequeathed his Jaguar to Cheesman. His hobbies included farming at Aldinga, family camping expeditions. Cheesman was diagnosed with macro-globular haemoglobinaemia, in 1992, an incurable blood disease. His increasing disability from this disease and other problems saw him being increasingly ill. Graham Frank Cheesman died on 17th April 2004.  He was survived by his wife Marian, his children Phillip, Joan and Jenny from his previous marriage, and his step-children Julianne, Leandra and Andrew and ten grandchildren.