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. [SIZE=-1]www.mh.org.au/secure/downloadfile.asp?fileid=1012420[/SIZE] 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.
