Australian Dictionary of Biography

Arthur Savage (1798-1852), naval surgeon, gained the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons in London and became an assistant surgeon in March 1820 and surgeon in July 1826. As surgeon-superintendent he went in the convict ships John to Hobart in 1833, Norfolk to Hobart in 1835 and Captain Cook to Sydney in 1836, and in the emigrant ship Magistrate to Sydney in 1838. His conscientious and capable work in the convict service earned him selection by the New South Wales government as an emigration agent in the United Kingdom. In 1837 he selected the Irish emigrants for the William Jardine, but although he obtained permission to take his wife and two daughters, with a view to settling permanently in New South Wales, he did not sail in that ship. He and his family arrived at Sydney in 1838 in the Magistrate. In January 1839 he was registered by the New South Wales Medical Board to practise his profession. When John Dobie, who had proposed the appointment of a health officer for Sydney in August 1838 and who had been appointed to that post in December, resigned, Savage succeeded him on 5 November 1839. He capably held the post until his death on 19 July 1852.