Lesley Hewitt
11th November 2025 – Remembrance Day – 50 years after the dismissal of Gough Whitlam, Australia’s PM by the then Governor General John Kerr, but also, appropriately when the Hepburn Radio was able to broadcast our interview with Peter FitzSimons, Australia’s best-selling non-fiction writer about his latest book The Courageous Life of Weary Dunlop.
Weary Dunlop was born in Wangaratta, Victoria, grew up just out of Shepparton and attended Benalla High where a perceptive teacher pleaded with his family to ensure he continued to higher education. Winning scholarships (his family were described as “poor as three church mice”), Dunlop studied pharmacy and then medicine before leaving for London in 1938.
Dunlop’s war record included being a medical officer in the Greek campaign of 1941, as a Senior Surgeon at Tobruk and then after Pearl Harbour and Australia declaring war on Japan, he was sent with Australian divisions to Indonesia to help the Dutch stop the Japanese. Sent to Bandoeng to establish the No. 1 Allied general Hospital he and other Australians become Japanese prisoners of war.
It was on the notorious Thai-Burma Railway that he became renowned and respected for his compassionate and strong leadership, using his force of character to stand up for the other POWS, putting himself in the firing line to protect the ill and weak and using his innovative medical skills to save many POW lives.
.Fitzsimons’ book describes the life of Weary Dunlop both before, during and after World War 2 when he continued to advocate and care for POWs. Using source material, Fitzsimons writes with clarity describing the harrowing stories of the men on the Thai- Burma Railway. His admiration for Dunlop is obvious. The stories often brought me to tears and of course raise the thoughts of what I would do in those circumstances. Would I have the character to stand up for others? Or the strength to persevere through such adversity?
It is an important and well-written book about the life of a man whose courage and character is an example to us all.
Fitzsimons is a skilful storyteller who is generous with his time. Fitzsimons will be discussing The Courageous Life of Weary Dunlop over lunch at the Guildford Family Hotel on Saturday 15th November. Tickets are available from Northern Books (northernbooks.com.au/peterfitzsimons). The cost is $99 which include a two course lunch and a $30 gift voucher to be used to purchase any one of Fitzsimons 39 books.
Listen to a podcast of the interview with Peter FitzSimons on the HEPFM Soundcloud.
Lesley Hewitt is a Daylesford resident who presents the Second Tuesday Book Review on HEPFM.
