OTAGO'S FIRST MEDICO

Evening Star, Issue 24042, 14 November 1941, Page 6

OTAGO'S FIRST MEDICO

CHARTER OF 1833 STILL EXTANT PRESENTED TO EARLY SETTLERS A document of historical interest to the district of Otago now finds a permanent place among other links with the first settlement in the Otago Early Settlers’ Association museum. It is the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, presented to Joseph Crocome, the first medical practitioner of Otago. Dated Juno 19, 1833, it bears the signatures of many famous men in surgery and medicine of that day. Dr Crocome died at Waikouaiti on February 23, 1874, and the document referred to was held in safe" keeping by his wife, who died at the ripe age of 103 on September 15, 1937. It was then held by a son, Air C. E. Crocome, of Morningtou, and it was the latter who handed it over to the Early Settlers’ Association for safe keeping. Dr Crocome’s early life, not only in the coastal settlements of Otago, but elsewhere, was an adventurous one. Born at Bath, England, in 1811, his father was a tea _ planter of St. Vincent, in the West Indies. He and his brother were sent to England to bo educated, and when their father died their guardian sent the boys up to London to study medicine. Following the practice of those days, Joseph Ci'ocome, the brother with whom we are concerned, during his studies was “ apprenticed ” to a doctor, and in due course qualified. The diploma presented to him. and which now hangs in the Early Settlers’ rooms,'reads as follows: “ Know all men by those presents: “ That we, the court of examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, have deliberately examined Mr Joseph Crocome, and have found him to be fit and capable to practise the art and science of surgery. “ We therefore admit him a member of the college, and authorise him to practise the said art and science accordingly. “ In witness whereof, wo have subscribed our names and hare caused tlie common seal of the college to bo affixed hereunto. “ Dated this 19th day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three. “ John P. Vincent (president). “G. J. W. Guthrie, Anthony White, Sir Astley Cooper, Anthony Carlisle, Hon. Leigh Thomas, Ilobt. Heatc, Sir Win. Blizzard, Win. Lynn, John Godwyor Andrews (vice-presidents).”

Before settling down to the practice of his profession Dr Crocome decided to travel in the South Seas for a time, and to this end joined the whaler Lucinda (Captain James). ‘ He visited many interesting places before the vessel touched at a port in Bolivia. Here he was called upon to treat surgically the -wife of the Spanish commander, being paid for his services in doubloons. Shortly after the ship left this port the vessel was lost in a storm, the doctor being one of the few survivors who got away to be picked up by a small coastal vessel. He finally reached Sydney’, where he learned that his interests in the Indies were in a parlous state owing to the freeing or the slaves there. Without any possessions or means other than the belt of doubloons he had received from the Spaniard in Bolivia, he had to take serious counsel-with: hiiiiself. Finally he accepted a position as surgeon at tha whaling station at, Otakou, conducted by the Weller Bros., and arrived at Otago Heads in 1536. He did not stay long, states Dr Robert Yalpy' Fulton, in his book, ‘ Medical Practice in Otago and Southland in the Early Days,’ and returned tp Sydney, his intention being to ultimately join his brother in practice in London.

However, in Sydney he was persuaded by Mr John Jones to accept a position at the Waikouaiti whaling station. ,where he settled in IS3S. His was a rough life, money was scarce and payment for services rendered, if any, was in kind. His food was chiefly damper, oat cake, wild pork, and wild birds, while his territory ranged both up ami down the coast to the various bays where whalers and their Maori assistants were operating. Only the fact that he was a very active man, and an excellent walker, enabled him to undertake the arduous duties imposed upon him. When the Otago settlement commenced and a doctor arrived at the Heads Dr Crocome gladly relinquished a great deal of his outlying district, and finally he accepted the work of tutoring, the sons of Mr Jones. As Waikouaiti grew ho took an active interest in the settlement, one of the most thriving in the colony of those days. He was a member of the local School Committee and the district’s first postmaster, the post office being located at his home in 1859. He was the first white man to welcome Governor Grey at Otakou in January, ISIS, when that gentleman arrived at the Heads in the ship Inflexible. Dr Crocome died at Waikouaiti on February 23, 1574, and was buried in the little churchyard on the hill just out of the township. Mrs Crocome remained in'the district until 1915. when she came to live with her daughter, Mrs E. Ritchie, of Musselburgh. The latter died on November 9, at the age of 67.