But there are many doctors from my past who loom large in my memory, and I do consider them my heroes — two of them particularly.

The first is Sir Alwynne Rowlands OBE, VRD. He had been president of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and one of the founding surgeons at the Cabrini Private Hospital in Victoria.

He graduated in 1930, went through the ranks at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, and did a stint in England before returning to Australia to obtain his fellowship.

Along with his considerable surgical skills, he was a renowned histologist and anatomist.