Vale Roly Hunt | Goodbye to a cherished friend

Roly was born on December 14, 1948 to Betty and Clifford at the Ballarat Hospital and grew up alongside his sister, Julie, in a family home on the main street of Stawell, where their dad was the local GP. Julie spoke of Roly’s early years at a memorial service at the Shepparton Golf Club on January 24, with some 500 family and friends in attendance.

In his later school years, Roly earned a scholarship to University High School, Parkville, where he worked hard to follow in his father’s footsteps, later being accepted to study medicine at The University of Melbourne.

After graduating in medicine, he married Sue Webber. They had their first two children (Dougal and Sarah), and Roly went on to accept a medical registrar position in Durham, England, where he not only worked hard to hone his craft in general surgery, but immersed himself in an environment full of people and travel that he fondly recalled for years to come.

Upon returning to Australia, Roly continued his general surgery career at the Austin and Repat Hospitals, living in Ivanhoe, before an opportunity presented itself to make a ‘tree change’ back to country Victoria. In 1986, he joined Mark Eastman and Peter Gunn in the Shepparton Surgical and Endoscopy Group.

Roly’s early surgical training had begun with most operations being “opening up” whatever was being operated on, but by the end of his career, much of what he did was via laparoscopy (tiny incisions and using cameras and robotic tools to do operations), a process providing minimal invasion and much-enhanced healing times.

He was always keen to ensure his patients were properly advised about what was happening. He was well known for doing drawings outlining the processes involved — particularly for patients he knew — fully aware that not all of them were so keen to appreciate the excruciating detail! Of course, they valued his interest and support for them at such a critical time.

He made the complex understandable to his patients; his genuine bedside manner and empathy was a great aid in hastening their recovery and endeared him to his patients. Many thousands of people were operated on by Roly over close to 40 years of work as a general surgeon in Shepparton.

There was seldom a trip to the local supermarket without somebody flagging Roly down, telling him what a wonderful job he had done on their hernia, or how their skin flap had turned out better than they ever imagined. When they showed him their scars like a badge of honour, it suggested he left more than a mark on those he helped.

Most people are unaware of the calls made on general surgeons in country towns. They get all the “too hard, too difficult’’ cases that others have struggled to diagnose or deal with. Due to the criticality of many of the cases, urgent decisions have to be made on the spot, often in the middle of the night with no peer consultation available — and patients often in a critical state with little or no history or background available.

This was particularly so before the advent of air ambulance and helicopter retrievals that save so many lives today. Dreadful car accidents, industrial and farm accidents, gunshot and assault victims and critically ill unconscious patients are routine for country general surgeons. Roly, no doubt, saved a large number of lives by making good decisions under enormous pressure.

Roly was a country boy at heart and he retained the ‘common touch’ of his rural upbringing. He was most proud of his holiday jobs on a wheat pickling truck, his rabbit-trapping and duck-shooting skills and his willingness to get his hands dirty cutting his own firewood and gardening on his property backing on to his beloved Goulburn River.

Indeed, his family home at Waters Rd became central to his life. He and Sue had added another two children (Sam and Lily) and, from those early days in Shepparton, twilight tennis and Thursday golf were his extra-curricular highlights of the week. Coupled with the ‘boys’ lunches’ and Beefsteak & Burgundy outings, Roly quickly built up a network of lifelong friends in Shepparton.

He went on to serve on the Beefsteak & Burgundy committee for many years and, being a Hawthorn Football Club tragic, later added a Friday night footy tragics group to his activities at a venue known as ‘Le Shed’, where much spirited barracking and red wine sipping occurred.

For many years he joined a group of keen local golfers for ‘The Jan Stephenson Touring Classic’, an annual foray to mostly interstate golf courses, named after the Australian golfing legend. It, too, was a source of hilarious stories.

His sense of humour and fun (and a penchant for practical jokes) were legendary and, despite his serious profession, he endeared himself to colleagues, nurses, patients and the people he worked with through his sharp wit, his teasing questions and his general love of life.

And he maintained his sense of irony under considerable duress: once while on duty, his prized Fiat motor car was stolen from the hospital car park and subsequently crashed on the causeway between Shepparton and Mooroopna.

The driver was injured — not critically so — but happened to require some surgical ‘repairs’. Being the surgeon on duty, Roly (by now aware his car had been written off by this individual) dangled the car keys in front of his new patient, saying “These are the keys to my beloved Fiat, which I believe you stole and crashed. I’m about to put you to sleep and operate on you.” The driver’s craven response was “I think I’ve come to the wrong hospital.”

A kind and generous heart

Roly was always willing to lend a helping hand, in whatever way he could. He volunteered for service in the Australian Army in East Timor in 2001 as a medical officer running clinics and operating on poor villagers whose health care had been greatly neglected. He was a regular at the Cancer Council Relay for Life event at Princess Park, doing free skin cancer checks.

He was always willing to assist a stranger in need — as he did by hosting in his home for six months a family of five made homeless by the floods in Shepparton in 2022. Roly was an active supporter of the Australian Piano Award (based out of Shepparton) for more than two decades, where he frequently chaired monthly meetings of the associates’ group, who helped run the biennial event. While acting as MC or finding sponsors or promoting the award, he was able to pursue his passion for classical music.

More lately after retirement, he joined the board of Shepparton Foodshare and subsequently became a daily volunteer there, arranging food distribution to charitable organisations and picking up donations from supermarkets and other donors. He made many friends there and in true Roly style ran an informal, private (and perhaps somewhat unethical) consulting clinic from the factory floor, giving sound and practical health advice to many of the volunteers.

The COVID years came hot on the heels of his retirement, so plans to travel to see his far-flung family or relax at his childhood beachside house were suddenly on hold. What opened up, though, were myriad engagement opportunities with the vast network he had built over 40 years. It was as though he was reaping the rewards for his extraordinary investment in our community and, for the next four years, he spread his intellect, enthusiasm and generosity amid an ever-expanding group of friends.

Roly managed to make it to his 76th birthday, one that he touted as the “best birthday I’ve ever had”. Contrary to his prognosis, he also made it through to a Christmas and New Years’ Eve celebration — being at home and cared for in his last weeks by his four children, ensconced in the family/kitchen area looking out over his garden to the Goulburn River. He was surrounded by his loved ones at home when he died peacefully, just slipping away.

Celebrating life

We remember Roly not with sorrow, but with the joy and fun that he brought into our lives. Though he is no longer with us in person, his spirit will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved him. Rest in peace, dear friend Roly.

— Jim O’Connor, the Hunt family and friends.