Meet our Alumni

Major General Sir Kingsley Norris was a leader in Victoria's medical community and a distinguished military officer. Norris studied medicine at The University of Melbourne before becoming a Resident Medical Officer at the Melbourne Hospital. He was then Medical Superintendent at the Children's Hospital and in 1923 became Honorary Physician to the Children's Department at the Alfred Hospital, a position he was to hold for the next 25 years.

While serving in the Middle East during the Second World War Norris received the Distinguished Service Order. In 1943 he was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his distinguished service in the South-West Pacific.

By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Brigadier-General and was honoured with the Companion of the Order of the Bath for his contribution as Director of Army Medical Services. During the Korean War he was further promoted to the rank of Major-General. Norris held several influential positions in Victoria's medical community, including President of the Melbourne Medical Association, President of the Medico Legal Society, President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and Chairman of the College of Nursing Australia.

In 1962 he was appointed Chief Commander of the St John Ambulance Brigade. He was also Director of Medical Postgraduate Studies, Civil Defence Medical Advisor and President of the Good Neighbour Council of Victoria. In 1957 Norris was honoured as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to medicine. His memoirs were published in No Memory for Pain: an Autobiography (1970).