James Dunlop ,an  eminent Astronomer in the Nineteenth CenturySir Edward "Weary" Dunlop

Notable Relatives

Australia

"From this small hill by the Glazert Burn
They bequeathed a Soul unto our Name
From Hist'ries Heart we may discern
Who We are and from Whence we came
Whose Bearer's deeds did Greatness earn
For Dunlop, Dunlap, DeLap Same"

MJD from "The Black'n'Blue" 2002

Scotland/Ireland/USA/Australia/Canada/India/Caribbean/France/China

AIR COMMODORE D.J. DUNLOP, CSC

Air Commodore David Dunlop was born in Brisbane in 1949 and received his primary education at the Yeronga Primary School. He completed his secondary schooling at the Brisbane Grammar School, matriculating in 1966. During this time, Air Commodore Dunlop was a cadet in the Air Training Corps, winning a Flying Scholarship.

In 1967 he joined the Royal Australian Air Force, entering the RAAF Academy at Point Cook. Following graduation in 1970, he undertook pilots course and was posted to fly fighters, completing a tour on Mirages with Number 3 Squadron at Butterworth, Malaysia.On returning to Australia in 1975, Air Commodore Dunlop converted to the F-111C aircraft and served with Number 1 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberley. This was followed by an exchange tour with the United States Air Force flying F-111A and F-111F aircraft at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. He then returned to RAAF Amberley, again serving with Number 1 Squadron. Following training at the Royal Military College of Science in the United Kingdom, Air Commodore Dunlop was posted in 1981 to Canberra to work with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. He then undertook staff training at the Ecole Militaire, Paris, returning to Australia in 1985 on posting to Headquarters Support Command in Melbourne. In 1987, Air Commodore Dunlop took over the command of Number 1 Squadron, serving there until 1989 when he was transferred to Canberra as a member of the Directing Staff at the Joint Services Staff College. This was followed by a tour as Staff Officer to the Chief of the Air Staff. He returned to Amberley in 1993 serving as the Officer Commanding No 82 Wing. In 1996 he again served at the Joint Services Staff College, this time as the Director of Studies. Following a tour as the Director of Aerospace Systems Development within the Capability Systems Division of the Australian Defence Force Headquarters, he was posted to RAAF Amberley as the Commander of the Strike Reconnaissance Group, serving there until early 2002 when he retired from the Permanent Air Force. In September 2002, Air Commodore Dunlop joined the RAAF Active Reserve and was appointed as the Director General Reserves - Air Force. Air Commodore Dunlop was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his contribution to the introduction into operational service of the F-111G. He is married to Air Vice-Marshal Julie Hammer who is the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Department of Defence.

 

  James Dunlop (1793- sept 1848) Born in Scotland, James Dunlop was an eminent Astronomer in the Nineteenth Century. James was appointed assistant astronomer at Parmatta, New South Wales, by Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane, new Governor, who took James From his Ayrshire home to Australia with him in 1821. James became Chief astronomer there and made over 40,000 observations, cataloguing 7,385 stars. He returned to Scotland, and worked with Sir Thomas at his observatory. James was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1831, receiving his medal from Sir John Herschell....and was also awarded a medal from the King of Denmark in 1833, and another from the Royal Institute of France in 1835, while being elected a Member of the Institute of France. After returning to Parmatta, he created great interest with his reports regarding furthur cometary and stellar discoveries from 1832 till 1847. He and his lovely wife retired to their farm at Boora Boora, Brisbane Water...in august 1847. His requiem reads: "When duller sons of clay return to Earth, Mourned by the crape and sable garb alone, The son of genius, child of heavenly birth: returns to skys that claim him as their own." Deepsky discoveries of James Dunlop

 

  Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop (1908-1993)An Australian Army Surgeon who was famous for treating soldiers in Japanese POW camps in Indonesia during WWII. His care for soldiers in Burma building a 420 kilometer railway under extreme conditions made him a legend in Australia. During the course of his life Dunlop received numerous honours and awards in recognition of his civic, sporting, educational, military and medical achievements. These included the Order of the British Empire (1947), Knight Bachelor (1969), Companion of the Order of Australia (1987), Knight Grand Cross, Order of St John of Jerusalem (1992), Knight Grand Cross (1st Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Royal Crown of Thailand (1993). He was an Honorary Fellow of the Imperial College of London, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Honorary Life Member of the RSL and Life Governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. In 1977 he was named Australian of the Year and in 1988 one of the 200 Great Australians. More than 10,000 people lined the streets of Melbourne for the State funeral of the "Surgeon of the Railway" in 1993. Sir Edward's dying wish to rejoin his comrades who perished on the railway was respected in 1994 when his ashes were scattered at Hellfire Pass by his family in the presence of friends, admirers and servicemen. Sir Edward died in 1993 shortly after receiving the Order of the White Elephant from His Majesty the King of Thailand. 

 

The Dunlop Legend
by Shirley Grangier
A Tribute to Edward "Weary" Dunlop, an Australian Hero

Echoes of broadswords from histories pages
Men of this tartan will not live in cages
Shoulder to shoulder they stood and fought
Protecting the walls of their muddy old fort.

In latter days Dunlops moved to new shores
Far from the sound of clashing claymores
The southern cross beckoned and made some it's own
One nicknamed "weary" especially known.

This man held fast to the motto of merited
True to traditions he had inherited
Strong and determined to help men survive
Doing his utmost to keep hope alive.

Dunlops can thrive in lands that are new
Don't need to carry the ancient Skean Dhu
But Red Eagled shield brings a lump to the throat
And legend recalls that old fort and moat.

 

DUNLOP, JAMES MATTHEW (1867-1949), and WILLIAM PHILIP DUNLOP (1877-1954), merchants, were born on 15 April 1867 and 23 October 1877, in Edinburgh, Scotland, eldest and second sons of John Sym Dunlop (1844-1912) and his wife Margaret, née Munro (d.1931). Their uncle William Philip senior (d.1906) came to Australia from Scotland in 1861 and was salesman in the paper firm of Alexander Cowan & Co. Ltd. About 1867 he returned to Edinburgh and took George Murray as partner: the firm traded in Sydney as Murray, Dunlop & Co. About 1873 he and Frederick Lewis Edwards (1828-1906), law stationer and bookseller, founded Edwards, Dunlop & Co. Ltd, paper merchants and wholesale stationers, of Sydney and London.After attending George Watson's College, Edinburgh, James Matthew arrived in New South Wales with his family in 1879 and, on completing his education at the Cooerwull Academy, Bowenfels, joined the firm. In May 1886 it became a public company: the consideration paid being £107,000 in fully paid £1 shares. Edwards managed the London buying office while William senior and John took care of the Sydney distributing side. On his father's death in 1912 James became chairman and managing director of the Australian operations. A branch had been opened in Brisbane in the 1880s and through careful and conservative management the firm survived the depression, a disastrous fire in 1906 and paper supply and shipping shortages in World War I. Operations were extended to Melbourne in 1920 and to Perth in 1937-38.James was president of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce in 1924-27 and of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Australian in 1926-27. He was also chairman of Paget Manufacturing Co. Ltd and a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1927-30. A staunch Presbyterian, like his father, he was a director of the Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes for many years and generously supported the Salvation Army. Of a somewhat devout and retiring disposition, he spent his spare time mainly in farming pursuits. He died unmarried on 21 August 1949 at his home Munro Park, Sutton Forest, and was cremated.

William Philip Dunlop junior, was educated at Sydney Boys' High School and at 16 joined the company; appointed a director in 1903, he was vice-chairman for thirty-seven years until 1949 when he became chairman and managing director. He was the driving force behind the growth of the firm which until 1944 concentrated on wholesale merchandising. He was fond of saying that 'Not a wheel turns inside these doors', but that year the firm bought Galwey & Co. Pty Ltd, a manufacturing stationer. Since 1959 the firm has expanded vigorously throughout Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and has played a leading role in the development of the newspaper and printing trades; among its agencies for newsprint and other papers is Stora Kopparbergs of Sweden, the oldest known company in the world.Dunlop was very good natured and generous, with a sense of humour; he was fond of travel, cards, reading and the theatre. He enjoyed gambling on a modest budget at Monte Carlo. Very active in tennis affairs, he was president of the New South Wales Lawn Tennis Association in 1909-10 and 1914 and was senior vice-president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia in 1926. He later enjoyed golf and, with his brother, was a member of the Australian Club. He was honorary treasurer of the Citizens Reform Association and in 1924-50 of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. He died on 2 August 1954 at his home at Edgecliff, Sydney, and was cremated with Presbyterian forms. He was survived by his wife Mary Josephine, née Smith, whom he had married on 20 February 1908 at the Scots Church, Sydney, and by a daughter and son (Sir) John Dunlop.

 

Eliza Hamilton Dunlop    Eliza was born in 1796 in County Armagh, Ireland, the daughter of Honour Solomon Hamilton, a judge of the Supreme Court of India. She first married James Law, an astronomer but he later died. A daughter, Georgina, was born to them in 1816 at Coleraine, Ireland. She married David Dunlop in 1823.They moved to Sydney Australia in 1838 with their four children. In the following year, David Dunlop was appointed magistrate and protector of Aborigines at Wollombi in New South Wales. Eliza was a lyric writer and a student of the aboriginals, and contributed to the literary life of the Hunter circle. Some of her early verse were sentimental in nature eg. "The Aboriginal Mother" was written in 1838 and it expressed her dismay and outrage at the Myall Creek Massacre. Her works were published in such magazines as the "Dublin Penny Journal", the "Australian", and the "Maitland Mercury". Her Australian lyrics were set to music by Isaac Nathan, and from 1842 they appeared in his "Australian Lyrics" series. A volume of her collected works "The Vase, Comprising Songs For Music and Poems" remains in manuscript in the Mitchell Library. She was one of the few people at the time to appreciate the literary worth of aboriginal songs and poetry. She translated aboriginal verse into English and recorded the aboriginal dialect in Wollombi. Her poetry brought a previously unknown sensibility to the Australian colonies, that developed in the educated woman of the Irish landless gentry Eliza died on the 20th of June 1880 in Sydney. She is buried next to David in the Wollombi Cemetery. See http://www.mullavilla.com.au/hist.html