Name: Richard Ewart Rawstron

Qualifications:
MB ChM, Otago, 1941
DA, Melb, 1952

Date of Birth: 3 March 1916
Date of Death: 2 November 2014

Richard Ewart Rawstron graduated from medicine at the University of Otago in 1941. He spent the next two years as house surgeon in New Plymouth, and joined the Royal New Zealand Armed Forces (RNZAF) in July 1943. He served in the Pacific until 1946, when he took a position at Waikato Hospital. This was followed with time in Sydney and a return to Waikato in 1948.

Rawstron decided to specialise in anaesthesia and, although his cumulative experience would have easily met the criteria for a Diploma of Anaesthesia (DA) he decided to undertake the study anyway. He worked as a registrar in both Auckland and Melbourne, gaining the DA in January 1956, and fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists in May of that same year.

In 1957 he was appointed Director of Anaesthesia at Palmerston North Hospital and, in the same year, the hospital became a site for registrar training. Rawstron continued to update and enhance his skills and experience, undertaking a fellowship in Ohio in 1960/61 and, in 1962, he established an eight bed recovery unit at Palmerston North. In 1977, he worked in pain clinics in the UK, US and Germany, establishing a pain clinic on his return. Rawstron intended to retire in 1980 but took up a position as visiting anaesthetist at Horowhenua Hospital in 1982, finally retiring in 1990.

SOURCES
Obituary, ANZCA website; The Community Archive NZ website; Form of Proposal for Nomination to Fellowship, 1956.

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