Doctor and author John Joseph Williamson has died recently aged 92, and now his daughter wants to turn his book set in North West Queensland into a film.
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Though Mr Williamson practised a lifetime of medicine with distinction, he was possibly best known in the North West for his 2010 book Six Keys:The Cloncurry Bank Robberies which told the story of the infamous and unsolved 1932 bank robberies which scandalised the north west town.
His daughter Leith Williamson advised the North West Star of the news of his passing in Brisbane.
"My wonderful Dad passed away on 17th May. He passed away in my home, in my arms," she said.
"The Director of Wesley Palliative Care assisted us to leave the Wesley and come home. Dad was able to sit in the sun, have visitors at home and watch the rugby on Stan. We enjoyed over three weeks of incredible time together."
Ms Williamson organised a function at his club, the Queensland Club, to celebrate the life of Dr John Joseph Williamson on June 10. She shared her eulogy and the eulogy of Andrew MacMillan who took over her father's practice when he retired.
John was born in Georgetown, North Queensland in 1928, the son of Croydon hotelier Jock Williamson. His brother Rex was born in 1931.
Ms Williamson said her father had a crucial "sliding doors" moment in 1932 when he was aged just four.
Jock Williamson was struggling to service the hotel's old kerosene refrigerator when the gas cylinder exploded; the force shot the cylinder right through the roof, badly injuring him.
He was pulled out of the flamed-filled room badly injured. Planes could not land at Croydon so he was taken three hours by car to Normanton where the Flying Doctors (born in the same year as John was) took Jock on a race against time for the difficult 20 hour flight to Brisbane requiring three stops to refuel.
Though he was transferred onto a quicker plane in Winton, Jock died one hour from arriving in Brisbane, the first person to lose his life in arms of the Flying Doctors.
Ms Williamson said had the accident not happened, John would have likely ended up a grazier in the north but his father's cruel death motivated him in the direction of medicine.
Afterwards John's mother Madeleine moved the family back to her hometown of Cloncurry and John was educated at Brisbane Grammar School, where he excelled scholastically and on the sporting field.
He graduated from dentistry in 1950 and was appointed a Lecturer to University of Queensland in 1951.
He moved to London a year later and obtained his Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1954. He returned to Australia where he took a position with the University of Western Australia Dental School as the Senior Lecturer in Oral Surgery. John obtained his Master's of Dental Science in 1960, followed in 1966 by his Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.
He was renowned for exceptional skills as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and he continued a strong academic career from 1966 - 1968 at Senior Lecturer at the Welsh National School of Medicine before being appointed Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide from 1968 - 1972.
In 1972 John returned to Brisbane and established a large practice as a Specialist Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon.From 1973 to 1983 he was Consultant to the R.A.A.F. for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. His proudest moment was when he was appointed Honorary Oral Surgeon on call to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during their Queensland visit in 1970. The Courier-Mail used a photo of their meeting on their front page announcing the Prince's recent death.
Ms Williamson said her father had the highest professional integrity and purpose, never compromised Standards of Practice, and maintained the strongest links with his colleagues become president of Australian and international associations in 1987 and 1988.
A few years after his father's death, his mother Madeleine married Tom Redmond, manager of the Cloncurry Bank of NSW.
Leigh Williamson said Tom was an excellent storyteller.
"One of his stories particularly captivated the interest of John. It was a true story about two bank robberies that took place in Cloncurry on the same night in June 1932. The same year his father tragically lost his life," she said.
That interest eventually led to the book Six Keys which he wrote in his retirement in 2010.
Ms Williamson said there was a plan to take it further.
"Dad completed the script for a screenplay in 2019. I will do my best to find interest in Six Keys from people in the film and television industries and get his book adapted onto the screen, as an homage to my Dad," she said.