Australian Dictionary of Biography

Bertram Speakman Hanson, c. 1970.

CALHN Health Museum

Bertram Speakman (Bill) Hanson (1905–1999), medical practitioner, radiotherapist, and army officer, was born on 6 January 1905 at Marryatville, South Australia, eldest of six children of William Speakman Hanson, accountant, and his wife Maggie Aitken, née Bertram. Though Bill was educated at St Peter’s College (1915–22) like his Protestant father, who had migrated to Australia as a child with his English military family, he was raised in accordance with his South Australian-born mother’s Catholic faith. In 1923 he entered the medical school at the University of Adelaide (MBBS, 1928). A keen sportsman, he was awarded Blues for tennis and Australian Rules football and played for Norwood in the South Australian National Football League.

In 1929 Hanson registered with the Medical Board of South Australia and was appointed resident medical officer at the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital. Showing an early interest in the treatment of cancer, he became the first radium registrar in 1930. He simultaneously worked in private consulting rooms with H. A. McCoy and in 1935 was appointed honorary clinical assistant in the hospital’s X-ray department. On 28 September 1932 he married Mayne Gilpin at ‘Manresa,’ St Ignatius’ Catholic Church, Norwood. They played mixed doubles tennis together and were to have four children: Jill, Thomas, Anthony, and Timothy.

Following the tradition of his father and grandfather of service in the artillery, Hanson had completed the adult component of his compulsory military training in the 13th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, during which he was promoted to battery sergeant-major; in 1926 he was commissioned as a lieutenant. He continued to serve part time in the Citizen Military Forces and from 1933 was a captain with the Australian Army Medical Corps. Immediately after World War II broke out, he was promoted to major on 4 September 1939.

On 13 May 1940 Hanson began full-time duty with the 2/6th Field Ambulance, pending his appointment on 1 July as a lieutenant colonel in the Australian Imperial Force and commanding officer of the 2/8th Field Ambulance. The unit embarked for the Middle East on 29 December and in March 1941 arrived at Cyrenaica, Libya. From April to October it was based at Tobruk, which was under siege by Axis forces. For his leadership during this period, Hanson was appointed OBE, being praised as ‘a model of what a Commanding Officer should be and an inspiration to his officers and men’ (NAA B883).

In January 1942 Hanson led his unit to Syria, where it was stationed mainly at Aleppo, and then in July to Egypt. During the battle of El Alamein (October–November), he frequently braved enemy fire to visit regimental medical officers, encouraging them and ensuring the ambulance’s timely collection of casualties. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order the next year, being credited with the unit’s ‘general efficiency and high quality of service,’ which had ‘set the standard for all field ambulances’ (NAA B883). In January 1943 he returned to Australia and, in July, was promoted to temporary colonel and posted to the staff of the 9th Division as assistant director of medical services. In this capacity, he supervised medical support for the division’s campaign on the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea, from September. Mentioned in dispatches for his service, he returned to Australia in February 1944 and was placed on the Reserve of Officers with the honorary rank of colonel in July.

Returning to private practice in Adelaide, Hanson was appointed honorary assistant radiotherapist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1952 and later became honorary radiotherapist. Involved with various State and international health committees, he was also prominent in the Anti-Cancer Foundation of the Universities of South Australia and its predecessors, serving as chairman from 1956 to 1961 and again from 1980. After his retirement in 1965, he continued as honorary consultant radiotherapist at the hospital.

Hanson made various other contributions to his profession. President (1952–53) of the South Australian branch of the British Medical Association, in 1967 he became a fellow of its successor, the Australian Medical Association. He also played a major role in the formation of the Australian Cancer Society (later Cancer Council Australia), being inaugural vice-president (1961–63) and president (1964–67) and receiving the society’s gold medal (1979). In late 1961 he was elected president of the College of Radiologists of Australasia. In 1963 he was appointed companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to radiotherapy.

Characterised by his ‘charm, courage, a delicious sense of humour and a profound religious faith’ (Cockburn 1999, 24), Hanson weathered personal losses later in life. After his wife died suddenly in June 1972, he lived alone at Mylor in the Adelaide Hills, where he enjoyed reading, gardening, and his collection of fine wines. In February 1980 his house was destroyed during the first Ash Wednesday fires. When asked what the worst part of that day was, he replied: ‘The sound of four dozen bottles of Grange Hermitage and another four dozen of St Henri claret exploding’ (Cockburn 1997, 86). A few years later, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater for his lifelong service to the university (DUniv, 1985). He died on 14 December 1999 after battling prostate cancer. Survived by his four children, his work continues through the Hanson Institute (established 1991).