Dr John Dale

Although his stay in Taree was short, John Thomas Dale is recorded in the 1897 Taree Rate Book as an occupier of property owned by D McDonald in Taree CBD.¹

Dale gained his medical qualifications in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1873 and, following an unsettled early career (which included time in New Zealand)² was registered in Sydney in 1891.³

He briefly practiced in many locations, including Taree, then fell on hard times in Newcastle and was only saved from penury by the charitable assistance of Mr Wells of the Newcastle Dental Hospital.⁴

His life ended in a boarding house in Macquarie Street, Sydney, in October 1897. His body was discovered on the morning of October 26. A coronial inquest determined that he had committed suicide by ingesting prussic acid.⁵

Dale’s misfortunes appear to have been caused by an addiction to alcohol. In 1892, in Lismore, he sued his employer, the Protestant Alliance Society, for what we would now term, unfair dismissal. He was alleged to have been drunk and unable to perform his duties.⁶ In his defence Dale stated that he was testing a remedy to “prevent a desire for and to cure the deleterious effects of alcohol”. He lost the case, but did later attempt to patent such a remedy.⁷

Sadly, it did not work for him.

Author: Penny Teerman