Left: ‘Old boy’ Frank Madill with children at Garfield Primary School where the doctor recently presented a copy of his memoir ‘If You Faint, Fall Backwards!’ By Paul Dunlop
DOCTOR-cum-author Frank Madill went back to the scene of his old school days for the local launch of his memoir ‘If You Faint, Fall Backwards!’
Dr Madill was born in Pakenham and grew up in Garfield before relocating to Tasmania where he has enjoyed a successful medical and political career.
He returned recently to promote the results of his first foray into writing.
Dr Madill describes the book as a “warts and all” account of his progress through medical school in Melbourne, as a resident at Launceston General Hospital and later as a general practitioner in the city’s northern suburbs.
During his visit to the area, Dr Madill presented copies of his book to Garfield Primary School, which he attended as a youngster, and the Pakenham Medical Centre.
“I was born in the Pakenham Bush Nursing Hospital, which is no longer here, of course, and grew up on a 50 acre dairy farm outside Garfield,” Dr Madill said.
Part memoir, part anecdotes, Dr Madill’s book gleaned its title from something a GP told him during his first visit to an operating theatre as a boy of 15. The aspiring young doctor was keen to get as much experience as he could.
“He asked me if I would like to come to the hospital and see him operate and I was very keen,” Dr Madill said.
“As I was going into the operating theatre, his advice to me was, ‘If you faint, fall backwards, don’t fall on the patient’.”
Married to Linda with two grown-up daughters, Dr Madill has fond memories of his time in the district. He met his wife, who grew up in Warragul, on a blind date in Melbourne and the pair have formed a close and happy union, stories of which are highlights of his book.
He was elected the Bass MP in the Tasmania Parliament in 1986 and continued to practise medicine until he became a Minister in 1992 and Speaker of the House in 1996. He retired from parliament in 2000 and has practised medicine part-time since then.
Copies of the book are available at the Pakenham bookshop in Main Street and at Berwick Newsagency, as well as outlets in Drouin, Warragul and Fountain Gate.
