Roy Burston Major General Sir Samuel Roy Burston KBE , KStJ , CB , DSO , VD , FRCP , FRCPE , FRACP ( 21 March 1888 – 21 August 1960 ) was an Australian soldier , physician , and horse racing identity . The son of a prominent Melbourne soldier and businessman , Burston graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1910 . After graduation he worked with children at the Adelaide Children ' s Hospital and Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory . Having served with the Militia from an early age , he obtained a commission in the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1912 and served as a medical officer in the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front during World War I . Burston was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for supervising an advanced dressing station under fire during the Battle of Messines . After the war he became a foundation Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians . During World War II he served as Director of Medical Services in the Middle East and Director General of Medical Services in Australia with the rank of major general . The 9th Division was withdrawn from the Siege of Tobruk on his medical advice . He remained Director General of Medical Services until 1948 . In 1945 , he became Chief Commissioner of St John Ambulance Australia , serving until 1957 , Burston was involved in thoroughbred racing both as a punter and as a racehorse owner . He served as Chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club from 1952 until his death in 1960 . Burston made the W S Cox Plate the richest weight for age race in Australia , and he oversaw the construction of the Burston Grandstand , which was named in his honour . Education and early life . Samuel Roy Burston was born in Melbourne on 21 March 1888 , the fourth of seven children to James Burston , a businessman who served as Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1908 to 1910 , and his wife Marianne , née McBean . Roy always preferred to be known by his first name rather than as Samuel , which was the name of his grandfather . The family lived in Flinders Street , Melbourne and later in Hawthorn , Victoria . James Burston would go on to command the 7th Infantry Brigade in the Gallipoli Campaign and rise to the rank of major general . Roy was educated at Melbourne Grammar School , where he acquired the nickname " Ginger " after his red hair . He joined the Victorian Military Forces as a bugler in 1900 , serving with them and the Australian Military Forces until 1905 . He considered a full - time military career but this was precluded by the discovery of a heart murmur . After graduating from Melbourne Grammar in 1903 , Burston entered University of Melbourne in 1905 , where he lived at Trinity College and studied medicine . He graduated with his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery ( MBBS ) degrees in June 1910 , and soon after his graduation he became a resident medical officer at Adelaide Children ' s Hospital . In 1911 and 1912 , he served in the Northern Territory as a medical inspector of Aborigines with the Aboriginal Protection Board . He returned to Adelaide where he married Helen Elizabeth Culross on 16 April 1913 in St Michael ' s Anglican Church at Mitcham , South Australia . He took up general practice in Mile End , South Australia . Although unable to pursue a military career , he obtained a commission as a captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps ( AAMC ) on 14 October 1912 . World War I . Burston joined the First Australian Imperial Force as a major in the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance on 26 March 1915 . He embarked for Egypt on the transport " Borda " on 23 June 1915 . In September , he went to Gallipoli with the 7th Field Ambulance , which supported his father ' s 7th Infantry Brigade . He served on Gallipoli from September until November , when he was evacuated to Alexandria and later England with Typhoid fever . Burston remained in hospital until September 1916 , when he was posted to the 11th Field Ambulance , part of the 3rd Division , then training at Larkhill in England . He moved to France with this unit on 24 November 1916 . For his conduct supervising an advanced dressing station the Battle of Messines , Burston was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order . His citation , signed by Major General John Monash , read : Later that month , Burston was appointed senior medical officer at the Australian General Base Depot at Le Havre with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel . This rank became substantive on 18 September 1917 . He was made commander of the 1st Convalescent Depot on 18 April 1918 and of the 3rd General Hospital on 22 November 1918 . On 7 April 1919 , he became Assistant Director of Medical Services ( ADMS ) , AIF Depots in the United Kingdom with the temporary rank of colonel . For this work , he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire . He returned to Australia aboard the " Orsova " on 22 November 1919 . Between the wars . Burston was promoted to major in the AAMC on 1 July 1919 , lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1920 , and colonel on 1 September 1921 . He assumed the post of Deputy Director of Medical Services , 4th Military District in South Australia on 1 August 1921 , a post he was to hold until 12 October 1939 . On returning to Adelaide in 1919 , he was reappointed to the staff of the Adelaide Children ' s Hospital . He also resumed as an honorary assistant physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital , a post he had been appointed to in 1914 . In 1933 , he travelled to Scotland to further his medical knowledge , and become a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh . On returning to Australia , he became an honorary physician at Royal Adelaide Hospital . He also began lecturing at the University of Adelaide . He was a district officer of the St John Ambulance Brigade , and vice president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation . In 1937 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh , and then one of the 41 foundation Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938 . He was also honorary physician to the Governor - General from 1 July 1939 to 11 February 1943 . Burston was a member of the Adelaide Club , South Australian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Club . He was a committee member of the Adelaide amateur Turf Club , and made an annual trip back to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup . A tall man at , he was awarded the Royal Humane Society of Australasia ' s Bronze Medal for saving the life of a youth caught in the rip while surfing at Victor Harbor , South Australia in 1927 . He had three children : Samuel Gerald Wood ( Sam ) Burston became a grazier ; Robin Archibald ( Bob ) Burston became a physician like his father ; and Helen Elizabeth ( Betty ) , who married Chris Sangster , an Adelaide physician on 12 January 1939 . Both sons and son in law would serve in the Army during the Second World War . World War II . Middle East . In October 1939 , the Director General of Medical Services ( DGMS ) , Major General Rupert Downes , tapped Burston for the post of Assistant Director of Medical Services ( ADMS ) of the 6th Division . Burston officially joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 13 October 1939 with the rank of colonel , and received the serial number VX2 ( VX1 being Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey ) . When I Corps was formed in April 1940 , Burston was appointed to its staff as Deputy Director of Medical Services ( DDMS ) . As such , he was promoted to Brigadier on 1 July 1940 . Burston departed for the Middle East by Qantas flying boat along with Blamey and Brigadier Sydney Rowell on 12 June 1940 , the party wearing civilian clothes as they were travelling through neutral countries . In November , Blamey organised a Headquarters , AIF in the Middle East and appointed Burston as its Director of Medical Services ( DMS ) . The Australian Government had appointed Major General Rupert Downes to this post , but it deferred to Blamey . Burston was promoted to Major General on 16 February 1941 . Burston believed in personal reconnaissance and leading from the front . He was at the forefront of providing the medical arrangements for Operation Compass . He attempted , in the face of equipment shortages , to anticipate medical problems and so far as possible to prevent or avoid them . He dispatched Major Ian Murray Mackerras to investigate fly breeding in order to prevent an outbreak of diarrhoea . Burston gave Mackerras a free hand to tackle hygiene problems . His participation in the Battle of Greece was of brief duration ; he embarked on 10 April 1941 and was back less than two weeks later . While there , he visited the front and was caught up in an air raid at Elassona . The disaster in Greece greatly exacerbated the ongoing problem of medical equipment , as losses included the complete equipment of three field ambulances , two casualty clearing stations , a 600 - bed hospital and one 1200 - bed general hospital . In July 1941 , Burston reported that Australians on leave in Cairo from the Siege of Tobruk were underweight , and expressed doubts that the 9th Division might have the physical stamina to resist an attack . Burston and Colonel Neil Hamilton Fairley met with the 9th Division ' s commander , Major General Leslie Morshead , as did Blamey , with the result that Blamey sought its relief . This led to showdowns first between Blamey and General Sir Claude Auchinleck , and then between the British and Australian governments . Burston was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 14 April 1942 ; his citation , written by Blamey , read : South West Pacific . Burston departed the Middle East for Batavia on 22 January 1942 . He narrowly avoided capture when it fell , departing on the " Orcades " on 21 February 1942 . On 8 May 1942 , Burston became DGMS at GHQ ( Australia ) , which soon became Land Headquarters ( LHQ ) . In this position , he found himself in charge of officers like Downes who were senior to him militarily , and others like Fairley and Mackerras who " were , in truth , superior to him in intellectual distinction and professional status . " He made numerous visits to the front in Papua - New Guinea , during September , November and December 1942 , July 1943 , and June 1944 . On his visit to Papua in September 1942 , Blamey asked Burston to intercede with Rowell , the relationship between Blamey and Rowell having broken down as a result of the Rowell ' s supersession by Blamey on the orders of General Douglas MacArthur and Prime Minister John Curtin . Burston failed to placate Rowell , and Rowell was relieved . The 1942 Papuan campaign threw up a host of serious medical problems . The poor diet , mainly caused by the difficulty of supply by air or over jungle tracks , caused malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies . Poor hygiene led to dysentery . Malaria was hyperendemic , and when Fairley and Mackerras visited Papua in June 1942 they found high rates of infection among the troops even before the fighting had begun . At Milne Bay the incidence was so high in September 1942 that it looked like the garrison would be wiped out in a matter of months . The biggest killer , though , was typhus . Of the 2 , 839 soldiers who came down with it , 257 ( 9 percent ) died . It fell to Burston promulgate the policies and practices that diminished the danger from disease and allowed the Australian Army to fight in New Guinea . In April 1945 , Burston visited South East Asia Command , and then travelled to the United Kingdom , where he ratified a series of agreements on the exchange of information regarding the development of new drugs , and for the funding of research scholarships by the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York . He was returning to Australia when the war ended . Later life . Burston was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1944 . He became Chief Commissioner of St John Ambulance Australia in March 1945 , serving until 1957 , after which he became Receiver - General of the Priory in Australia . He became an Honorary Physician to the King in August 1945 , and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London . Blamey recommended Burston for a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in September 1945 , along with Frank Berryman , James Cannan , John Northcott , Jack Stevens and George Wootten . The recommendation was turned down by the Labor government as it was not Labor Party policy to award knighthoods at this time . Following the election of the coalition government in the 1949 election , Blamey wrote to the new Prime Minister , Robert Menzies , again requesting honours for his generals . This time he was successful , and Burston was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( military division ) in 1952 . Burston remained DGMS after the war . In the immediate post - war period , he was responsible for the demobilisation of the Army Medical Services , and for providing medical support to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan . Criticism of the medical arrangements , which Burston felt might lead to the force being prematurely withdrawn , led to Burston being publicly rebuked by the Army Minister , Cyril Chambers . Burston retired as DGMS and from the Army in 1948 , handing over to Kingsley Norris . He served as honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps from 1952 to 1957 . Rather than resume his medical practice in Adelaide , Burston chose to remain in Melbourne . In 1950 , he delivered the Rupert Downes Memorial Lecture based on his book on " Medical Aspects of Atomic Warfare " . Burston served as director of several companies , including David Syme & Co . ( the publisher of " The Age " newspaper ) , Western Mining Corporation , Great Western Consolidated , New Coolgardie , and Koolgardie Southern . He was a medical advisor to the Australian Red Cross and National Mutual Life Association . In retirement , Burston enjoyed playing golf and tennis , and was involved in thoroughbred racing , both as a punter and as a racehorse owner . He was elected Chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club following the death of C . F . ( Charlie ) Taylor in 1952 . Burston increased the prize money of the Cox Plate , taking £1 , 000 from the Moonee Valley Cup and adding another £1 , 000 to give the two races equal prize money of £4 , 000 . This made the Cox Plate the richest weight for age race in Australia . In announcing the decision , Burston described the prize money as " fitting to the class of horses competing " , noting that it had drawn fields with winners such as Phar Lap in 1930 and 1931 ; Chatham in 1932 and 1934 ; Ajax in 1938 ; Flight in 1945 and 1946 ; and Hydrogen , the 1952 winner that would go on to win it again in 1953 . In 1956 , Burston announced a long range plan to increase the prize money to £10 , 000 , although this would not be achieved until 1964 . Crowds at the race meetings at Moonee Valley had fallen from an average of 35 , 000 per meeting in 1948 – 49 to 25 , 000 in 1952 – 53 . To lure punters back , the club expanded facilities . A new public grandstand , named the Burston Grandstand in his honour , was built at a cost of £200 , 000 . This facility was first used for the Cox Plate meeting in 1958 . Burston died at his home in South Yarra from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on 21 August 1960 . He was survived by his daughter Elizabeth , who was married to Dr Christopher Sangster , an Adelaide physician , and his sons Samuel ( later Sir Samuel Burston ) , a pastoralist in the Western District of Victoria , and Robin , a physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital , Adelaide . A military funeral was held at Christ Church , South Yarra on 25 August . Burston ' s pall bearers included Major Generals Leslie Beavis , George Canet , Ronald McNicoll , Kingsley Norris , William Refshauge , Robert Risson and Colin Simpson . Mourners included Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott ; William Samuel Cox , representing the Moonee Valley Racing Club ; and Sir Frederick Thomas , the Lord Mayor of Melbourne . Burston ' s remains were cremated at the Springvale Crematorium , and his ashes were placed with those of Helen , who had died in 1958 , in the gardens there . A portrait by Sir William Dargie was purchased by a fund subscribed to by a large number of medical officers and presented to him at The Australasian Medical Congress in Perth , Western Australia in 1948 . Today , it is at the Latchford Barracks . A 1990 portrait by Barbara August hangs in the boardroom of the Moonee Valley Racing Club . Another , by Sir Ivor Hele , is held by the Australian War Memorial .