Sir Benjamin Keith Rank - Kt CMG KStJ Mb MS LRCP FRCS FRACS

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Sir Benjamin Keith Rank
Kt CMG KStJ Mb MS LRCP FRCS FRACS
14 January 1911 - 26 January 2002

This is the surgeon that reconstructed my fathers head, face and hands after he was shot 3 times and the victim of a mortar explosion on the initial battle to secure Tobruk from the Italians on January 21st 1941.

His nurse used to grow the skin that was required for these delicate and painstaking operations.

www.mh.org.au/secure/downloadfile.asp?fileid=1012420

Sir Benjamin Rank was considered the father
of plastic surgery in Australia. He left a legacy
of sheer artistry in plastic surgery, a field he
pioneered in peacetime Australia, building on
the accomplishments of his wartime surgery.
His long-time colleague, Don Marshall
described him as a "wonderful surgeon, a
very good organiser and a man who made
plastic surgery an instrument of foreign
policy". He really was Australia's first
specialist plastic surgeon.
Sir Benjamin grew up in Heidelberg, where
his family owned and ran a grain store and
mill. He was educated at Scotch College and
The University of Melbourne, where he took
part enthusiastically in college life and
graduated MBBS in 1934 with honours and prizes. He met his wife Barbara on his first trip
outside Victoria when he visited an aunt in Hobart. They were married for 62 years and had four
children.
Upon graduation from The University of Melbourne, Sir Benjamin began a two year residency at
The Royal Melbourne Hospital and from there went to London in the late 1930s and became
fascinated with the new speciality of plastic surgery. At this time there were only four surgeons
practising in London and Sir Benjamin with his typical persistence became the group's first
resident surgical officer.
As a young surgeon in uniform during World War 2, Sir Benjamin's life was transformed. He was
only 30 when he found himself heading a new Unit established to reconstruct the limbs, faces and
bodies of wounded sailors, soldiers and airmen. He spent time overseas and then returned to
Australia in 1942 to set up the plastic and facio-maxillary unit at Heidelberg Military Hospital.
One of his most notable cases at Heidelberg, was Flight Lieutenant John Gorton, whose
shattered face, Sir Benjamin reconstructed after Gorton was injured ditching his aircraft in the sea
near Singapore. John Gorton went on to become Prime Minister of Australia. By the end of the
War the Unit was a world class plastic surgery team.
In 1946, Sir Benjamin became the first honorary plastic surgeon at The Royal Melbourne Hospital
and started an association that spanned an extraordinary fifty two years. He brought with him a
support team including surgical, prosthetic and secretarial members. This team became the
leading unit in the land and Sir Benjamin lead it for twenty years. At The Royal Melbourne he was
also appointed Chairman of the Board of Post Graduate Education and medical advisor to the
Board of Management on policy and development. He served the Board as a member and as
vice president and was foundation Chairman of the Archives Committee.