Gerald Raleigh Weigall was born in 1900, son of G.C. Weigall. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, graduating MBBS in 1924 and MD in 1928. He was a Resident MO at the Alfred Hospital for two years followed by two years at the Children’s Hospital.
He travelled to England in 1929, where he married. He and his wife, Betty, subsequently had four children. On return from England in 1930 he set up a general practice in St Kilda, with a special interest in children. He became an honorary assistant at Alfred Hospital medical clinics and in 1939 was appointed Honorary Physician for Diseases of Children, a post he held until retirement in 1958.
Weigall served in the AIF, overseas at first in the 2/2 Australian Hospital Ship, later in the 2/11 Australian General Hospital in Queensland and at Buna in New Guinea with the rank of Major. After discharge from the army, he resumed his general practice, then becoming medical officer for Glamorgan Preparatory School of Geelong Grammar at Toorak. After retirement from general practice in 1958 he was appointed as a consultant paediatrician to the School Medical Service of the Victorian Government.
Weigall was keenly interested in medico-politics. He served on the council of BMAV from 1937. He represented the South Eastern suburbs in council and was appointed a Trustee of the Medical Society of Victoria in 1957. He was elected President of BMAV in 1954. He was also on a number of sub-committees, including chairmanship of the Ethics Committee.
He was president of the Medico-Legal Society 1961-62 and was to have been the next president of the Paediatric Society of Victoria, were it not for his premature death. He was a member of the Melbourne Medical Postgraduate Committee, also a founding member and president of the Alfred Hospital Residents & Graduates Association.
Last updated 31 March 2025.
Sources: Obituaries, MJA 1962, pp639-41; Alfred Hospital Faces & Places Vol.1.
By Dr Allan Mawdsley OAM