Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Geoffrey Newman-Morris Kt KStJ ED
Seventh Commissioner of St John Victoria District, 1966-1969
Geoffrey Newman-Morris graduated in medicine in 1932, followed by postgraduate training in surgery which he completed just before the outbreak of WW II. He enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps, serving in the Middle East and New Guinea campaigns and later as Commanding Officer of 106AGH, Bonegilla. He had been involved in St John work from 1933 and also with Red Cross, following his distinguished father, Sir John Newman-Morris, who also held high office in both organisations. In civilian life he was a senior surgeon at Prince Henry’s Hospital, an examiner for the universities and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and an active office-bearer in the Australian Medical Association as well as other related medical organisations.
He was a member of St John Council for Victoria from 1950 for twenty-five years. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner in 1962 and Commissioner in 1966. He was invested as a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John in 1964. He was promoted to Chief Surgeon at national headquarters in 1969 but left St John at the end of his triennium because of heavy commitments as Chairman of the Standing Commission of International Red Cross. He was knighted in 1969. He died in 1981.
