Obituary - Dr Lorna Lloyd-Green

CBE 1979, OBE 1968, MBBS, DGO, FRCOG, FRACOG, FAMA, RMT
4 February 1910 – 24 June 2002
[Adapted by Ken and Lyn Wheat (niece) from the eulogy delivered by Senator the Honourable Kay Patterson at the Thanksgiving Service on Saturday 29 June 2002]
”And may there be no moaning of the bar when I put out to sea.”

Lorna Lloyd-Green was a pioneering woman in Australian medicine whose life spanned 92 years, bridging two centuries. In an interview in 1991 she recalled being driven to her first school in a hansom cab. In her 80s she became familiar with personal computing, quickly graduating to a laptop.

Lorna’s family home was in Mt Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds. She had accomplished parents, a veterinary surgeon father as well as a schoolteacher, accomplished musician and artist mother. The eldest of four children she, Nancy, Bill and Gwen had many adventures at their home in Moonee Ponds.

One, possibly inspiring her interest in medicine, acquired mythological status among family. One day, it is said, when her father was ill, a dog that had been in a fight was brought into the surgery with its eye hanging on its cheek. Lorna, at 14, and Bill, a mere eight formed the emergency surgical team cutting and tying off the eye. In spite of there being no anaesthetics, the dog turned not a hair.

”Dalkeith”, the family home, was the scene of an active social life. Throughout her life Lorna remained close to her brother and sisters, visiting during her brief vacations from her practice and other professional involvements. She was simply “Nornie” to her nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Many exciting vacations were enjoyed in such places as Kakadu and Hamilton Island; there was even a flight over the Antarctic.

Lorna attributed her sense of service to the influence of her family and school, Lowther Hall. She often quoted the school motto non nobis solum (not for ourselves alone). Lorna’s love for Lowther Hall continued unabated throughout her life demonstrated by her continuous involvement, especially in leading the building appeal for the Learning Resource Centre and attending school functions when able.

She was a talented student, Dux and Captain of Lowther Hall in 1929. She was a very gifted musician and might never have become a doctor had she followed the advice of some to become a musician and teacher as had been her mother.

Her love of learning was life-long, in her 70s studying Music Therapy, in her 80s studying for a Diploma of Law. For 58 years she was a member of the Lyceum Club one of whose purposes is the cultivation of learning among professional women.

Lorna was determined to be up-to-date. She had the first radio-controlled car in Melbourne, the base call sign was #1 and she was #2. Being determined to use a computer, many of her family, friends and colleagues have stories to tell . . . Senator Kay Patterson remembers a phone call from Lorna to Canberra with Lorna repeatedly pleading, “I need help! I can’t get out!  I am stuck! I can’t get out!” Kay presuming Lorna had fallen asked where she was and if anyone could come and help. Finally in absolutely exasperation Lorna conveyed that she was stuck in a computer program . . . There were many  late night rescues as Lorna became more “proficient” in computing.

Medicine dominated Lorna’s life. She was one of the first female obstetricians and gynaecologists in Melbourne in the first half of last century, spending most of her working life in private practice in Collins Street and  East Melbourne. She and 11 other women were the second ever group of women to study medicine at the University of Melbourne. After having been appointed as Medical Superintendent at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in 1939, Lorna held the following positions at that hospital: Honorary Medical Officer to Out-patients, Honorary Assistant Surgeon and Obstetrician, Honorary Gynaecologist-in-Charge of the Sterility Clinic, Senior Gynaecologist and then Honorary Consultant Gynaecologist as well as Dean of the Clinical School. She was also Associate Gynaecologist at the Royal Women’s Hospital.

Lorna was renowned for never missing a delivery. Many are the stories of her sleeping on a hospital chair between deliveries. During WWII she was on call for 24 hours, each day for two years and spent every night in the hospital. Lorna’s speciality became the field of infertility, fuelled by her perception of a lack of concern for those unable to have children. She founded the sterility clinic at the Queen Victoria that was to become the infertility clinic (which she ran for 25 years) and eventually became the IVF Clinic at Monash.  

She was an ardent advocate of breastfeeding, the first medical adviser to the Nursing Mothers Association, now the Australian Breastfeeding Association. She was the first woman Fellow of the AMA, Foundation Fellow of the Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; she was a senior member and president of the Australian Federation of Medical Women and President of the Medical Women’s International Association, hosting a world conference in Melbourne in 1970, the year in which she was named “Woman of the Year”. Lorna was awarded an OBE in 1968 and a CBE in 1979, and the list goes on . . .

Stories of Lorna’s commitment to patients are legendary and one can rarely go anywhere in Melbourne without meeting someone she has delivered. Her family tell a story of a Christmas lunch when Lorna was summoned to the hospital to attend to one of her patients who was about to give birth. Off Lorna dashed, delivered the baby and returned to the Christmas lunch. No one at the hospital had been game enough to tell her because Lorna came back to the lunch still wearing her bonbon paper crown. One of Lorna’s former colleagues relates that Lorna had encouraged her to call her by her given name, “which I found very difficult for a time”. She also stated that while Lorna “ . . . was never critical . . . instinctively I had to measure up . . .” Everyone who knew her instinctively felt a need to try to emulate. 
 
Many women have benefited from Lorna’s support and interest. She was a pioneer among medical women in Australia. Equal pay for equal work by female medicos was achieved largely through her work with the AMA, an issue with which she was deeply involved at the University of Melbourne. She wanted training for medical women to give them the skills they required when applying for senior positions.

Lorna was not one to mince words; if she differed in her opinion you were left in no doubt about her view. Nevertheless, she like Voltaire, was ready to defend your right to your view. She was one for detailed organisation and she would not have someone else arrange her thanksgiving service. Four years ago Lorna gave Kay Patterson and all the family a copy of the service and took them through it in detail to ensure all were fully cognisant of her wishes.  

Lorna has told the story of calling Melanie Seale, an opera singer, and asking her if she sang at funeral services. Melanie replied in the affirmative asking when Lorna would like her to sing. Lorna abruptly replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t died yet.” Lorna had a wonderful, almost wicked sense of humour.

When Lorna thought it was no longer appropriate for her to practise obstetrics and gynaecology she found another way of continuing to use her medical skills. After two years training to be a music therapist, she spent almost ten years, two and a half days a week with dying patients at Lovell House and Bethlehem. One of her most poignant experiences of that time must have been when she cared for a dying patient whom she had delivered over 50 years before.

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