Lord Atkin: Irish roots and the Queensland connection / P A Keane.

Brisbane : Supreme Court Library Queensland 2018

88698

Atkin, James Richard Atkin, -- Baron, -- 1867-1944.

Lord Atkin's first encounter with a doctor was in 1867, when Dr Kevin O'Doherty attended his birth in Brisbane. Twenty years earlier O'Doherty had been transported to Tasmania for his advocacy of Irish nationalism. By 1867 he was a leading surgeon in Brisbane, and, like his friend Robert Atkin, an advocate of liberal democracy. He was one of the first presidents of the Queensland Medical Society and carried out extensive honorary work at Catholic hospitals. As an MP he introduced Queensland's first Public Health Act, championed the improvement of public health and as an opponent of the traffic in Kanakas sponsored the bill to stop their recruitment. He was a member of Queensland's Parliament until 1886 when he returned to Ireland and was elected to the House of Commons in that country. Soon after that, political differences in Dublin led him to return to Brisbane.

Open access

The Hon Justice Patrick Anthony Keane AC, 'Lord Atkin: Irish roots and the Queensland connection', 2018 Selden Society Lecture 3 given at the Banco Court, Brisbane, 30 Aug 2018

Second Annual Lord Atkin lecture: the Irish convict doctor who delivered Dick Atkin - Dr O'Doherty

1 online video YouTube video

1 online paper (14 pages) PDF