Meet a member - Dr William Taylor

While we most notably recognise Dr Taylor for his service as the Inaugural President of the Queensland Branch of the British Medical Association (now AMA Queensland), as an early leader of the medical profession, his career extended from medicine right through to politics.  

His story is another in a new series we are running in celebration of our 130th anniversary, featuring AMA Queensland Past Presidents.

Born in London in 1840, Dr Taylor moved to Canada with his family at just two years old where he is said to have shown great interest in the medical profession from a young age.

His interest clearly persisted for, less than 20 years later, he graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine with honours from the Queens University of Kingston, Canada.

For the next decade he called many countries home.

Immediately after graduation he returned to England where he became a licentiate of the London Apothecaries Society (LSA). A year later, he moved to Australia for the first time where he practised medicine in Hay, New South Wales until 1866.

Returning to London again in 1867, he threw himself into hospital work and obtained a Diploma of a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MCRS).

As medicine was entering a new era, where the rational school of medicine and scientific methods were becoming prominent, this was an essential step for his progression into higher surgical training.

With a few more years of experience and recognition under his belt, he returned to Australia in 1868 – this time to stay.

After dabbling in work as resident doctor and visiting medical officer in regional Victoria and New South Wales, in 1870 he finally came to Queensland.

For the next 57 years, and until his death, Dr Taylor made a home and a name for himself in Queensland.

Professionally speaking, he carried out his work in various regional towns including Clermont and Warwick, was appointed visiting doctor to the local hospital and was elected an alderman of the town.

His family life also flourished during this time. In 1873, he married Miss Isabella Graham with whom he went on to have five children.

In 1882 Dr Taylor established his involvement with the state’s medical organisations and became one of the 27 founding members of the Medical Society of Queensland, a notable pillar in AMA Queensland’s establishment.

Although he was now settled in Queensland, he made one trip back to England in 1883 where he was made a life member of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain and was presented the Diploma of Public Health from the Royal College of Physicians.

On his return, his new skills were once again of great value to the progression of medicine in Queensland. Specifically, he prepared a report on the best means of sanitation for Brisbane, and its recommendations were promised to be carried out by the government.

During this time, he was also made honorary ENT Surgeon of the Brisbane General Hospital and Medical Officer of Health for the city of Brisbane, roles which he carried out for many years.

In 1886, at 46 years of age, his political career began.

Originally, he was called to the Legislative Council to express the necessity for up-to-date hygiene to Parliament and the people. However, as he remained on Council for a lengthy 36 years until the Chamber’s abolition, his involvement naturally evolved.

His other activities included membership of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and the secretaryship for Queensland of the Royal Colonial Institute.

Although Dr Taylor’s career consisted of many great milestones and achievements, it can be said that his greatest recognition was garnered just shy of the turn of the 20th century.

Within a span of seven years, he was appointed Honorary Ophthalmologist at the Brisbane Hospital, appointed a member of the 1891 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the best means of establishing a university for Queensland and became inaugural President of the Queensland Branch of the BMA.

His involvement in Queensland’s first medical school was also significant.

The University of Queensland (UQ) was established in 1909 as a result of the Royal Commission, but it wasn’t for another 25 years in 1935 that the state’s first medical school, The Faculty of Medicine at UQ, was established. This was following years of advocacy, largely by the Royal Commission of which Dr Taylor was a member.

Dr Taylor’s later career was nearly as active as its prime. He became President of the Australasian Medical Congress in 1920 and continued to practise medicine, while his health permitted it, until his death in 1927.

Highly regarded throughout his entire career, at his death he was referred to as a highly respected citizen, a notable public man and an eminent medical man.

We are grateful for his leadership as AMA Queensland’s inaugural President and his influence on modern medicine in the state.

AMA Queensland celebrated its 130th anniversary on 30 May 2024. The inaugural AGM of the Queensland Branch of the British Medical Association was held on 30 May 1894. The Australian branches of the BMA formed the Australian Medical Association in 1962.

Information for this article was gathered from A History of Health & Medicine in Queensland, newspaper article, death notice, Australian Journal of Ophthalmology, and Queensland Parliament.

Image attribution: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Neg No: 135461. https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/20706