Busselton Historical Society > Records

Medical Students Registration -Certificate. Walter Percy Yates

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1906

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2024.198

Item type

Certificates

Themes

Medicine & Health

Material

Paper

Width

200 mm

Height or length

145 mm

Contextual Information

Dr Walter Percy Yates was born in Yorkshire. He came to Western Australia in 1912 and first set up a practice in York. Then he worked for a short time at Woodman Point Quarantine Station. After the war, he came to Busselton and was appointed Government Medical Officer for the district in 1922, a position he held until 1955.
When Dr Yates began practicing, he was the only doctor between Capel and Albany and often visited patients on horseback, horse and cart or car depending on the road conditions. He helped to establish the St John Ambulance in the district and in 1940 was recognised as an honorary life member. He was a member of the first board of management for the Villa Maria project, the first retirement village in the area.
His home in Busselton was built between 1922 and 1929 by the prominent architectural team of Cohen & Eales. Dr Yates lived in the house and ran his surgery from the front rooms. The verandah outside the surgery and facing the street was well known by residents for more than 30 years as they filled the chairs lined up along its length waiting for their turn to see the doctor.
https://greataustralianstory.com.au/story/country-doctor

May Yates wife of Walter Percy Yates was born in Halifax Yorkshire in 1889 as Evelyn May Cocker. In 1912 she married Walter Percy Yates and between 1912 to 1917 they lived in the north of England where she was active in the Girl Guides that had been established by Lord Baden Powell and his sister Agnes in 1909. In 1917 the Yates moved to Busselton where he became the doctor for the area and she became involved with the Busselton Guides to satisfy her interest in guiding and the welfare of girls.

Keywords

Walter Percy Yates

May Yates

Place made

Edinburgh
United Kingdom

Year

1906

Busselton Historical Society

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