Major General Sir William Dudley Duncan Refshauge, (3 April 1913 – 27 May 2009) was an Australian soldier and public health administrator. He was Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II (1955–64), director-general of the Australian Government Department of Health (1960–73), and secretary-general of the World Medical Association (1973–76).
Early years and education
William Dudley Duncan Refshauge was born in Wangaratta, Victoria on 3 April 1913, where his father was headmaster of the Wangaratta High School. One of his four siblings was Joan Refshauge (1906–1979), a medical practitioner and administrator who did significant work in Papua New Guinea. The family was of Danish extraction and are descendants of Peder Pedersen Refshauge. The family moved to Hampton, Melbourne when his father became ill. He was involved in the Boy Scouts movement, and later with the sport of rowing.
Refshauge attended Scotch College, Melbourne and was selected in the First Eight for the Melbourne Head of the River while still aged only 15, and rowed in three subsequent years. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, was awarded a University Blue for Rowing, and graduated in 1938. He became resident medical officer at The Alfred Hospital the following year.
Military career
Second World War
In 1939, when the Second World War started, Refshauge joined the Second Australian Imperial Force as a medical officer with the rank of captain in the 2nd Field Ambulance. He saw service in the Middle East, the Battle of Bardia, the capture of Tobruk, the Greek campaign, the Battle of Crete, New Guinea and Borneo. He was promoted to major in 1942 and later to lieutenant colonel. He was mentioned in despatches four times and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1944. In Syria, he took charge of a hospital where he treated the local sex workers for sexually transmitted diseases, which caused the incidence of disease amongst the local soldiers to drop.
Post-war
After the war, Refshauge decided to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology and became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was appointed the first permanent medical superintendent of the Women's Hospital (now Royal Women's Hospital), Melbourne, in 1948.
In 1951, during the Korean War, Refshauge rejoined the Australian Army and was appointed deputy director-general of Army Medical Services. In 1955, at the age of 42, he was appointed director-general with the rank of major general. He assisted in the establishment of the Army School of Health at Healesville, Victoria, and adopted a system of training and recruiting medical officers. He attended the nuclear testing sites of Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll, but was not consulted during the British nuclear tests at Maralinga.
Affiliations
From 1955 to 1964, Refshauge was Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II. In 1960, he was appointed Director-General of the Australian Government Department of Health, serving until 1973. He was also Chairman of the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Commonwealth Council for National Fitness, the National Tuberculosis Council and various other advisory bodies. From 1961 to 1966, he was also Joint Services Medical Adviser in the Department of Defence and Chairman of the Defence Forces Medical Services Rationalization Committee. From 1962 to 1973 he was Deputy National Coordinator for The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. He maintained his interest in rowing, and was a member of the Organising Committee for the 1964 Australian Rowing Championships and Olympic Trials on Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra.
In the international field, Refshauge attended many meetings of the World Health Organization as chief Australian delegate. He was chairman of the two main committees of the World Health Assembly, chairman of the executive board of WHO, and president of the 24th World Health Assembly in 1971.
In 1973, Refshauge became secretary-general of the World Medical Association, near Geneva, a post he held until 1976. He instigated the move of the secretariat from New York City to Geneva to work more closely with the office of the WHO. He rewrote the Helsinki Declaration of Ethics for the WHO but eventually resigned because of a lack support from his board.
Refshauge was a national trustee of the Returned and Services League (RSL) 1962–1973 and again from 1977. He led the RSL Tour of the Battlefields of Europe to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Remembrance Day on 11 November 1978.