Woodman Point Quarantine Station

William Hall Young was born in Sheffield, England on the 3rd of June 1908. The third of four children in a long line of medical men, dating back to the late 18th century. In 1920 he commenced at the Mill Hill School in NW London as a boarder.

In 1925 William Young Passes the London Matriculation Exam and the Oxford and Cambridge Certificate with 6 Distinctions. His parents kept him at school an extra year, as he was only 17. At school his favourite sports are Rugger, Cricket and Tennis.

William Young can be seen seated in the very front. ..

In 1932 he sat for his Medical finals and passed. Pay at this was 80 pounds Sterling per year , plus very basic board and lodging.
In 1934 he was contracted to serve as Ship's Surgeon with the British India Steam Navigation Co.
(a branch of P & O). Pay at this time was 22.10.0/month (cut 10% from 25 pounds/month, because of the Depression by the British Government. Came out to Australia on this voyage.

In 1935 he joins his father's practice in Sheffield and at the same time enlists with the Army Reserve.
On September 1st 1939 he is called up for Army Service - just two days before war was declared, and was posted to the 3rd Field Ambulance of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the First Division.

As a doctor he was immediately ranked Captain then was later promoted to Major.

In 1944 Dr Young applied for a post as Senior Medical Officer on a troopship and was appointed MO on 5 voyages between August 1944 and his demobilisation in November 1945. On his 3rd voyage he used penicillin for the first time which was extremely new. When the war ended he was involved in the return of 4,000 Russian officer POW's from France to Russia, and on the return voyage brought 4,000 British POW's from Poland back home to England.
With demobilisation due, on his final voyage he spoke with one of his colleagues who had recently been to Australia regarding prospects there.
He had been away from his practice in Sheffield for over 6 years and lost his surgery which was damaged in the Blitz. He wrote to the Australian Medical Association in Sydney but heard nothing so went back to build his practice in Sheffield again. He met Peg, married and had a daughter, Angela. Then communication came from the AMA advising of a vacancy in Wiseman's Ferry, NSW. 2nd daughter, Jean, was on the way so he asked to postpone until after her birth.

When schooling became an issue 3 years later, he contacted a colleague with whom he had worked at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, Dr Alex Johnson, who was by now closely involved with the Quarantine Station in Western Australia, regarding a position with the Commonwealth Health Department in Perth, as a Quarantine Medical Officer clearing passengers arriving in Australia by ship and plane, to avoid communicable diseases entering Australia. The work involved climbing rope ladders up the side of 2,000 ships in all weathers (no mean feat as he was afraid of heights!)

In August 1954, as case of smallpox was diagnosed onboard R.M.S. Strathaird arriving in Fremantle, so all passengers (estimated to be 1200) needed to be examined and immunised. Three boat loads of passengers due to disembark in Fremantle (estimated to be 59 people) were went to Woodman Point Quarantine Station for isolation and surveillance before being released into the community. Dr Young then travelled on board the Strathaird to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to accompany the remaining passengers in case of further outbreak.