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DELAND Charles Mervyn MB BS DPH DTM

1902-1962

Charles Mervyn Deland was born on 9th March 1902, in Gawler, South Australia.  His parents were Charles Combe Deland and Effie Deland, nee Wyllie. He was educated at Prince Alfred College and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating MB BS in 1924. He married Annie Joan Robjohns, the daughter of the Reverend Leonard Robjohns and Florence Julia, nee Stephens, on 23rd August 1926 in the Congregational Church, Kensington Gardens South Australia. The couple left for an appointment on the island of Vanikoro, in the Solomon Islands, beyond the New Hebrides. This appointment was followed, with encouragement from Sir R W Cilento, by attachment to the Papua and New Guinea Mandated Territories Administration, at Bougainville and Manus Island. The Solomon Islands are renowned for the expedition, carried-out in 2003, which demonstrated that the La Perouse ship, La Boussole had sunk by the coral reef while the other ship Astrolabe did not sink straight away which enabled part of its crew to reach land. A skeleton and stones from a mill were found near remains of the La Boussole wreck. Deland, returned to Sydney where he received a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Sydney in 1936.

Deland joined the AAMC, on 30th December 1941, and was immediately called up for full time duty and posted to 10 CCS. He was transferred to Loveday 14 Internment Camp, on 26th Mar 1942, before a posting as a MO to 25 Gan Bn Prisoner of War camp.  The Loveday Internment Group accommodated German, Italian and Japanese internees from the various states of Australia, and internees and prisoners of war from the Netherlands East Indies, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Britain and the Middle East. Deland reported to family that the German and Italian POW’s were not mutually friendly. The camp comprised six compounds and accommodation for personnel of the 25/33 Garrison Battalion who provided the camp guard. The maximum number of internees (3951) was reached in March 1942. Of those in internment in 1942, 528 were Japanese, subsequently repatriated to Japan. He was posted to 105 Military Hospital on 29th   May 1942.  He was then posted as an RMO to the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) on 15th March 1943 and embarked on the Duntroon for New Guinea on 7th July 1943. ANGAU was a civil administration of the Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942. The civil administration of both Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea were replaced by an Australian Army military government and came under the control of ANGAU from February 1942 until the end of World War II. ANGAU undertook civil tasks of maintaining law and medical services in areas not occupied by the Imperial Japanese and was responsible to New Guinea Force. Deland was transferred to Queensland LoC area for preparation of service in PNG. Deland embarked from Townsville on the Duntroon and dis-embarked in Port Moresby on 11th May 1943 and posted to PNG to the ANGAU Hospital in Lae, PNG, as RMO. He returned to Australia on 28th August 1944 but again returned to PNG on 2nd November. Deland was appointed DADMS HQ Southern Region PNG on 27th June 1945 and promoted temporary major. He returned to 4 MD for termination of appointment on 19th December 1945 and relinquished his temporary rank of major reverting to captain. He was placed on the Reserve of Officers and retired from the military on 30th June 1957.

Deland remained with the Mandated Administration as a civilian before returning to Adelaide in 1948 where the family lived off Park Terrace (Greenhill Rd) and later at Goodwood. He took a position with the SA Central Board of Health in the Department of Public Health. He became afflicted with Motor Neurone Disease in 1959 (AMLS). Charles Mervyn Deland was transferred to and died at Northfield, South Australia on 11th July 1962 and is buried in Centennial Park, SA. He was survived by his wife, who died aged 94 in 1997, and five sons and one daughter.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD