PART ONE

In the early days there were a number of pioneering medical practitioners who established themselves in Wollongong.

Dr Timothy Wood Lee and his son Dr Harry Herbert Lee are just two such doctors.

Timothy Lee was born in 1847 at Thame, Oxfordshire, England. He graduated from Royal College of Physicians in London in 1867 and went into practice at Little Milton, Oxfordshire.

In March 1875, he married Margaret Jessie, daughter of Reverend Alfred Martell, at Axminster, Devon, England.

In 1883, Dr Lee, accompanied by his wife, sons Harry and Francis, daughters Isabel and Mabel, arrived in the colony.

In June 1883, the Government Gazette announced that Dr Lee was accepted as a fully qualified medical officer. He purchased Dr Gould's medical practice in Market Square, Wollongong.

By January 1886 he had bought a house in Smith Street, naming it Little Milton. He then added a wing to the old house in which he set up his medical practice. Dr Lee became a familiar sight in the 1880s, riding his horse to attend to workers on the construction of the Illawarra railway between Wollongong and Otford.

Dr and Mrs Lee received a telegram in March 1901 from their son Harry informing them he had passed his final medical examination. He returned to Wollongong not long before the Mount Kembla Mine Disaster in July 1902. He, along with his father and many local doctors, attended the victims of the disaster. Dr Timothy Lee died in August 1919 aged 72.

Dr Harry Lee purchased land in Keira Street, where he built his house and surgery near where the Anthony Horderns' building was once located.

In 1925 he built another house, this time in Church Street which he named Ditchley. Failing eyesight forced him to give up practising medicine in 1953. He died in June 1959 aged 83.

Another doctor who became well known in Wollongong before Dr Lee's arrival was Dr William Smith Thomas, who hailed from Haverford in South Wales. He obtained his medical degree at Guy's Hospital, London. He first opened a practice at Taunton, Somersetshire. Ill health plagued him throughout his life. At one stage he decided to go to Madras in India to see if his health would improve there. Serving as the medical officer aboard a sloop on its way to India, Dr Thomas quickly decided India was not for him. His thoughts then turned to Australia and after making a visit he decided to migrate, arriving around 1868.

He settled in Penrith, where he established a practice. Dr Thomas married Miss Emma Hosking in 1872 at Penrith. On leaving Penrith, he was presented with an address from the Royal Order of Foresters as he served as their medical adviser. In April 1874, he moved to Wollongong, where he made his home and practice opposite St Michael's Church in the large two-storey building named Allowrie Terrace in Church Street. Two children, James and Ethel, were born in Wollongong.

As time passed his health continued to deteriorate. He had a deep compassion for those less fortunate. He very seldom received a fee for his services and never pressed the patient for payment. By September 1880, he made his last visit to a patient outside the Wollongong area, when he visited Mrs Ruth Fairs at Bulli after a serious accident when she was a passenger in Waterworth's coach which overturned on Bulli Pass.

The last home visit he made was to young Charles Osborne Bright in Wollongong just before he died on October 4. A few days later Dr William Smith Thomas died at 2am on October 14, 1880, from heart disease at 45. He left a wife and two children aged three and five.

Information courtesy of Carol Herben OAM.  Call 0409 832 854 or email sycado6@bigpond.net.au