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M H Ellis & T Fisher, The Long Lead; Katherine Times, 9 October 1980; Northern Standard, 8 May 1928; Northern Territory Times, February
1901; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 2 May 1885; Interview with Mrs Eileen Stott, wife of Gordon Stott and daughter-in-law of Robert
Stott, Darwin, 1987.
O V DIXON, Vol 1.STRANGMAN, CECIL LUCIUS (1867–1942), medical practitioner, was born on 1 August 1867 at ‘Lisselan’
near Tramore, County Waterford, a seaside holiday home owned by his family. He was the fourth son in the
family of nine children of Thomas Handcock Strangman, a landowner, and his wife Sarah White, nee Hawkes.
The Strangman family were Quakers who settled in Ireland in 1652 during the Cromwellian usurpation. Cecil’s
family lived at ‘Carriganore’, a large farmhouse about eight kilometres from Waterford, and as a boy, he attended
the Waterford Diocesan School. The family appear to have been outstanding scholars, for Cecil, his brother and
two sisters subsequently graduated in medicine from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, training at the
Meath General Hospital. Cecil qualified as a physician and surgeon in 1888.
In 1889, he served for nine months as ship’s surgeon on the SS State of Georgia on the run between Glasgow
and New York. During the following year, he immigrated to Australia, registering as a medical practitioner on
7 August 1890 at Port Adelaide. He was 23 years old, tall, fair, grey-eyed and spoke with a soft brogue.
In South Australia Dr Strangman served as a surgeon at the Port Lincoln hospital, moving on to Carrieton
in the mid-north as medical officer and two years later to nearby Orroroo, the township established a few years
previously. There in 1894 he married Edith Adelaide Moody, daughter of an Orroroo businessman, and there his
only child, a son, John Handcock Strangman was born in 1896. He served in the district for 16 years, well loved
and respected. When he was preparing to leave in November 1906, the following was published in the local paper:
‘Widespread regret is felt at the removal of Dr Strangman who leaves Orroroo for Port Darwin. For the past
14 years he has resided here and before that practised for two years at Carrieton. During the whole of that time
he has worked incessantly and conscientiously at his profession, no trouble has been too much, no distance too
great to deter him from attending swiftly to the medical wants of the residents of the district, often without hope
of recompense or reward, he has faced the elements at all hours of the darkest nights to ameliorate the sufferings
of his fellows. The loss of a clever doctor and a public benefactor must be fully realised by all who have had the
pleasure of associating with him.’
Just what inspired Dr Strangman to move to Port Darwin is not known, unless it was the challenge of the appalling
conditions that existed in the Northern Territory during the dying days of the South Australian administration.
He arrived in Darwin early in 1907 to take up the position of Medical Officer for the Northern Territory and that of
Medical Officer to and Protector of Aborigines. In this capacity he immediately set about establishing contact with
all local and many distant tribes of Aborigines, this included an extensive trip around the east coast into the Gulf
of Carpentaria in the SS Federal during which he visited many coastal and river tribes. Arising from this survey,
he issued a report in February 1908 under the title ‘Aborigines of the Northern Territory—Condition Of’ which
was submitted to the Government Resident, Justice Herbert. This detailed, objective, and at times, horrifying
report provides a unique record of the medical condition of the Aboriginal people at that time; but by 1909, the
office of Protector was no longer coupled with that of Medical Officer.
In Darwin Strangman began a continuing interest in tropical medicine and in entomology. During 1909 and
again in 1912 he spent the greater part of the year in postgraduate study at the London School of Tropical Medicine,
obtaining the diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. This gentle and humane man of Quaker heritage also
concerned himself with other needs of the community, serving as a Justice of the Peace and on the hospital and
licensing boards. He endeavoured to improve the hygiene and conditions of the Chinese community, many of
whom lived in shoulder-high hovels, and he protested at the chaining of Aborigines in the Darwin gaol when called
to treat their injuries caused by chain-chafe.
Dr Strangman was dedicated to prophylactic measures to control disease. Dramatic results were achieved in
a malaria outbreak in 1907 at the Daly River smelter by the draining of surface water. He was always busy with
his microscope; much time was spent in examining samples for disease-carrying parasites and in the preparation
of slides.
Dr Strangman had a great empathy with the Chinese, perhaps because Chinese servants staffed his home.
They in turn regraded him as ‘a great healer, a skilled physician and surgeon and a great hearted philanthropist.’
When he left Darwin, the local Chinese sent money to China to have a testimonial banner made. This large banner,
1.6 x 3 metres, embroidered with Northern Territory gold is now in the possession of the District Council of
Waikerie, South Australia. The wording on this unique tribute reads:‘To Cecil Lucius Strangman, Esquire. Government Medical Officer, Darwin NT, a tribute of admiration, respect and esteem
from the Chinese community of the Northern Territory of Australia:Wing Cheong Sing Chin Yan Yen Man Fong Lau
Fong Cheong Loong Wing Wah Loong P Lee Sucy
Yet Loong Toey Sing Loong Chin Kim Kee
Wing Sang Tong Gee Kee Fou Cheong Wo
Sun Sing
Darwin September 1913’When war broke out in Europe in August 1914 Dr Strangman was living with his wife and son in Adelaide.
On 21 September, he enlisted as a Major in a detachment of the Australian Army Medical Corps, serving with a