TRIBUTES for a man that established much of Goulburn's health and community infrastructure are pouring in following the death in Canberra on Sunday of Dr Alan Hazelton FBBS FRCPA FRACP.
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A service for family and close friends will be held in the Anzac Memorial Chapel of St Paul, Duntroon Military College, Canberra, at 12 noon on Friday and afterwards at Norwood Park Crematorium. A public memorial service is expected to be held in Goulburn next week.
Born in 1915 and educated in Sydney, Alan Hazelton's first taste of a productive medical life started in 1939 upon his appointment as resident medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
In 1940, he moved to Orange as residential medical officer, entering military service as a doctor with the rank of Major in 1939.
Captured by the Japanese on Singapore in 1942, Dr Hazelton spent several years tending to his men's needs in Changi jail and on the Burma railway, working at times with noted national hero, Dr 'Weary' Dunlop.
On discharge in 1945, Dr Hazelton was appointed medical superintendent at Manly District Hospital, becoming medical administrator at the Albion St chest clinic in 1947 before accepting the appointment as clinical consultant at the chest clinic at Sydney Hospital the following year.
The Fellow of the college of American Chest Physicians was appointed staff specialist at Goulburn Base Hospital in 1948, where he remained until 2000.
Almost immediately, Dr Hazelton established a pathology service at the hospital and found the time to open a private pathology practice too.
Among his many achievements, Dr Hazelton established and directed the blood bank at Goulburn in 1950, believed to have been the first in country NSW.
He was also the transfusion offer in Goulburn for 40 years, trained his own nursing staff to run the pathology service and the blood bank, and for many years, he personally administered all blood transfusions.
In 1975 Dr Hazelton was appointed regional pathologist for the South East Region and established a laboratory at Moruya.
He was later appointed consultant pathologist for that region where he continued to supervise the growing numbers of laboratories including those at Bega, Queanbeyan and Cooma until he retired at 83 years of age.
He was the chest physician at Goulburn Base Hospital from 1949-1990 and worked as a consultant in that capacity for the NSW south coast area.
A foundation member of the Goulburn Medical Clinic and chairman on many occasions, Dr Hazelton was a member of the Goulburn Base Hospital staff council for many years and spent some time as acting medical superintendent.
He also found time to be the acting government medical officer, on occasions.
He was the chairman of the Goulburn Frail Aged fund raising committee established in 1967 with a brief to raise money for hostel type accommodation. Raising $200,000, the hostel was later established on Salvation Army land, becoming Waminda.
He was instrumental in the employment of a social worker for the Goulburn and district and was instrumental in starting the Meals on Wheels movement in the city.
Dr Hazelton was a member of the NSW Ambulance Board, eventually being awarded a Brother of the Order of St John in recognition of his 45 years service to the organisation.
In the absence of formal training of ambulance officers, he provided lectures and conducted examinations.
He was the patron of the Red Cross Society in Goulburn and a life member of the Goulburn AP and H Society, having served as president of the Goulburn Coursing Club for many years.
For his service to the community, Dr Hazelton was made a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary in 1998, the same year the pathology laboratory at the Goulburn Base Hospital was named in his honour. At that same time he was also given the honour of emeritis pathologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital .
One man who worked beside Dr Hazelton as a chief hospital scientist for 36 years was Alistair Stewart. He remembered Dr Hazelton as "a wonderful tutor and mentor, one that was always at the forefront of his profession".
"He was a man of great humility and kindness and his passing will have a profound effect on the city and surrounds and all of those who were associated with him professionally over many decades.
"Dr Hazelton was a great lover of humanity, always had time for people, a man who recognised needs in certain areas and quietly went about fulfilling them," Mr Stewart said.
Senator Ursula Stephens described Dr Hazelton as "a gentleman, and one of those unsung heroes of World War 2.
"His legacy to Goulburn has been enormous," she said.
Dr Hazelton is survived by two sons Richard of Bowral and Stephen of Goulburn and daughters Bronwyn Porter of Melbourne, Margaret Leach of Canberra and Elizabeth Hazelton of Townsville, and Marion (dec) and their 17 grandchildren and four great grand children.
