Dr Edward William Brentnall MBE CStJ
Twelfth Commissioner of St John Victoria District, 1984-1987
Edward Brentnall was a Resident Medical Officer at University College Hospital in London before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1954 for service in Singapore during the Malayan insurgency. He migrated in 1965 to General Practice at Box Hill, where he joined St John as Divisional Surgeon to Waverley Cadet Division. He was introduced to St John Search & Rescue work at the Southern Aurora train disaster. In a 1975 career shift he became full-time Director of Emergency Services at Box Hill Hospital, including heavy involvement with State Disaster planning. He was one of the founding members of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. Within St John he became District Surgeon and was actively involved with Howard Toyne’s publication of the first Australian edition of “First Aid” for St John Ambulance Association.
Dr Brentnall was appointed Deputy Commissioner to Major-General Poke and was promoted Commissioner upon General Poke’s appointment as Deputy Chief Commissioner at national headquarters in 1984. He retired from this role in 1987 because of heavy commitments within the College for Emergency Medicine but remained on the National Curriculum Committee for a further six years. He returned to St John Council in Victoria in 1996 as the member responsible for Order Affairs and has continued to contribute to the management of Advanced Casualty Management Teams. He was invested as a Commander in the Order of St John in 1985 during his term as Commissioner and raised to the grade of Knight of Grace after his retirement.
