BACKGROUND
The Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital was established on 7th October 1932 by the South Australian Government, to take over from the overcrowded Infectious Diseases Block at the Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace. The new hospital was designed to care for and accommodate patients with infectious diseases such as polio, scarlet fever, measles, and diphtheria.
The new Hospital was an autonomous organisation controlled by its own Board of Management and its finance was maintained solely by the contributions of local councils.
Alderman Stanley John Kneebone (B.V.Sc.) served on the Board of Management at the time the new Infectious Diseases Hospital was established, representing the Unley City Council.
KNEEBONE, Stanley John, B.V.Sc.
DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH
Stanley John Kneebone was born on 24th November 1897 at Lydia Cottage, Rushall Crescent, North Fitzroy, Victoria. His father, Simeon John Kneebone, was 26, and his mother, Mary Horrocks (nee Dalton), was 25 at the time of his birth. His father was born in Eldorado, Victoria and his mother in Collingwood, Victoria.
SCHOOLING
Stanley Kneebone won a Junior Government Scholarship to Wesley College, Melbourne, Victoria. He later studied at Melbourne University, Victoria, graduating in 1919 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (B.V.Sc.).
(sourced from Ancestry.com)
(Sourced from Ancestry.com)
RESIDENCES
At the age of 26, Stanley & Doris Kneebone had a new house built, at 62 Anzac Highway, Everard Park, South Australia. He built his veterinarian surgery on the same site.
MARRIAGE DETAILS
Stanley John Kneebone married Doris Marguerite Hawken in Adelaide, South Australia, on 23 January 1923 when he was 25 years old. They married at St Paul’s Church, Adelaide, South Australia.
Doris and Stanley Kneebone had 3 children:
- Son, John Keith Kneebone born 25th November 1924 (died in 2011 at the age of 86)
- Son, Clive Stuart Kneebone born 19th September 1927 (died in 2000 at the age of 73)
- Son, Donald Robin Kneebone born 2nd September 1931 (died in 2008 at the age of 76)
WAR RECORDS
Stanley John Kneebone enlisted on 1st August 1942 in Gawler, South Australia, at the age of 42. His World War 2 Service Number is SX21100 (S31659). According to the Official Civic Record of South Australia (1936) he was attached to the 6th Cavalry Brigade, Veterinary Section, with the rank of Major.
Major Kneebone received the Australian Efficiency Decoration (ED), awarded to officers of the volunteer Military Forces throughout the Commonwealth. To be eligible for the award 12 years of qualifying service was required.
DATE & PLACE OF DEATH
Stanley John Kneebone died on 17th September 1964, age 66 years. At the time of his death, he was a tourist on board the M.V. Francis Drake. His death certificate was issued in Hong Kong, China.
(Photo sourced from ssMaritime.com)
His cause of death is listed as cardiac arrythmia, ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest. He was cremated in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, and his ashes returned to Australia.
BURIAL DETAILS
Stanley and his wife Doris’s ashes are interred in Centennial Park, Pasadena, South Australia. Doris Kneebone died less than a month after her husband (she had a cerebral thrombosis/stroke and died in the Memorial Hospital, Adelaide).
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Written by Karyn Baker, CALHN Health Museum Volunteer