The son of Dr David Henchman was alerted to the medical mystery by Goulburn Hospital Historical Cataloguing Volunteer Group member, Jenny Sullivan.

The case turned up in a Bourke Street Health Service cupboard with a cryptic note attached:

"This 'black bag' was used by my brother-in-law Dr Varnum Southworth M.D. in Cambridge, Maryland, USA. He was a U.S.N reservist, and was in the Guadalcanal campaign, where he became ill and subsequently died. I got the bag after WW2 and used it in my GP days," it stated.

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History detectives solve mystery Goulburn medical case owner

A mysterious case baffling Goulburn hospitals' history group volunteers

Local historians' keen detective work identified the owner as Dr David Henchman, a paediatrician who practised in Goulburn from 1977 to 1985. He had moved here from Canberra and was instrumental in starting the Child Development Unit in Cowper Street. Dr Henchman died in 2007.

His son, Alistair, a Canberra strategic planner, said he recalled the case and as a child had asked his father about the initials 'VCS' enscripted on it. They stood for Varnum Cochran Southworth, who was known as Sam.

"He explained to me that it was his brother-in-law's," Mr Henchman said.

"He had a number of medical bags over the years and I kept one that I later used for work."

Mr Henchman said Sam was older than his father, and David's half-sister, Gwyneth, when he married her in 1939 in Sydney.

Southworth had been a surgeon in the United States Navy Reserve and died in 1943.

Mr Henchman believed the bag could be pre-war. As to why it was at Bourke Street Health Service (the former Saint John of God Hospital), he said this was not unusual as his father moved between several health facilities.

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He remembered his father as a quiet man.

"He wasn't one to promote himself and he was very dedicated to his work. He was a serious sort of person and treated his work seriously," he said.

"I remember as a child when he was a GP and paediatrician in Canberra, I'd visit friends and their parents would say what a lovely man he was. He'd developed quite a reputation so that was a very nice thing to hear as a child."

Dr Henchman, who was born in 1920, studied medicine at Sydney University and graduated towards the end of World War Two. He joined the Army and served in the medical unit. After the war he stayed in New Guinea, looking after Japanese and Korean prisoners of war until they were repatriated.

"He has a Japanese sword from that period of his life," Mr Henchman said.

In Goulburn he gained widespread respect as a paediatrician.

He worked with the Child Development Unit, which started in 1977 as an innovative model. It united eight agencies, including the NSW Health Commission and Youth and Community Services and was designed to help children and families in stress. The unit offered school counsellors, a paediatrician, medical officer, psychologist, speech therapist and much more, a 1977 Canberra Times article stated.

Goulburn woman and avid historian, Daphne Penalver, worked with Dr Henchman as a speech pathologist at the unit from 1978 to 1999.

"In the years I was associated with the CDU the emphasis was on team work in the assessment process and in the formation of recommendations for parents and supporting professionals," she said.

"David Henchman was a man who cared deeply for the welfare of those who crossed his path. Prior to the establishment of the CDU, and during the early years, David continued to provide paediatric services to centres in the huge southeastern region, regularly driving to Young, Yass, Cooma/Bombala, Eden and Bega."

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Mrs Penalver said in this role he provided professional support to Baby Health Centre staff and community nurses without the help of allied health staff.

The child development unit's formation aimed to address some of the problems associated with distance.

"From years of working as a paediatrician in private practice, he adjusted easily to the CDU team approach to service delivery," Mrs Penalver said.

Dr Henchman retired in 1985 but remained active in the community through Rotary, The Smith Family and much more. David said he loved bellringing at Saint Saviour's Cathedral and travelled to internationally to pursue the art.

"I have some lovely memories of him," he said.

As for whether his father had deliberately left a puzzle for people to solve with his cryptic note, Mr Henchman said David would have simply forgotten to leave his name on the medical case.

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