Rear Admiral Brian Tremayne Treloar
Brian Tremayne Treloar was born on 7 December 1927 in Lindfield, NSW. He was educated at The Armidale School, NSW and Sydney University where he completed a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery. Treloar joined the RAN on 2 June 1954 as a Surgeon Lieutenant on a short service commission. His initial training was conducted at HMA Ships Penguin and Cerberus before joining the aircraft carrier HMAS Vengeance in early June 1955. Vengeance was on loan to the RAN, while the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne was being prepared for Australian service.
On 16 June 1955, Vengeance sailed from Sydney to commence the long passage to England and reversion to the Royal Navy. She had onboard almost 1000 officers and sailors who were to commission HMAS Melbourne. Sailing via Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Port Said and Malta, Vengeance arrived in Devonport on 13 August 1955 and was decommissioned on 25 October 1955 and reverted to the Royal Navy. HMAS Melbourne was commissioned three days later on 28 October 1955. Brian Treloar was to serve in Melbourne, as one of her three Medical Officers (two surgeons and a dentist) for the next 14 months which included extensive flying trials in British waters before returning to Australia via the Suez Canal. After arriving in Sydney, in early May 1956, the carrier completed a short refit and then continued her flying training program. During September-November 1956 Melbourne deployed to Southeast Asia for Exercise ALBATROSS which included port visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila with brief stops at Manus Island and Rabaul on the way home.
Surgeon Lieutenant Treloar was appointed to HMAS Penguin in January 1957 as one of the Medical Officers at the RAN hospital. He was promoted Surgeon Lieutenant Commander on 2 June 1958 and also granted a permanent commission in the RAN. On 24 February 1959 Brian Treloar was appointed as Acting Commander and Senior Medical Officer and Fleet Medical Officer in the flagship Melbourne. Melbourne served in the Far East Strategic Reserve during March-May 1959; operating mainly out of Singapore but with visits to Manila and Hong Kong for Exercise SEA DEMON and HONGEX. The ship returned to Australia in early June via Manus Island and Port Moresby and was in refit during June-September 1959. During the latter part of the year the carrier operated in New Zealand waters visiting Milford Sound, Wellington and Auckland. The new year found Melbourne completing a short refit and then operating in Australian waters until deploying to Singapore in April 1960. She undertook Exercise SEALION in Philippines waters in May and then conducted port visits to Hong Kong, Yokohama and Jakarta during May-June. The carrier returned to Sydney, via Fremantle and Melbourne, in July.
In August 1960 Brian Treloar was appointed the Senior Medical Officer at the Naval Air Station - Nowra and also officer in charge of the School of Aviation Medicine. He was to spend over three years at Nowra during what was a period of uncertainty for the Fleet Air Arm with the potential demise of fixed wing carrier aviation. The decision to retain the carrier Melbourne with fixed wing aircraft embarked was made in late 1962 and morale in the Fleet Air Arm rose accordingly. Treloar returned to Melbourne, for his final sea posting, in October 1963 as the Senior Medical Officer and Fleet Medical Officer (as well as being the honorary physician to the Governor-General). He was on board during the collision with the destroyer HMAS Voyager, off Jervis Bay, on the night of 10 February 1964. Eighty-two men in Voyager lost their lives and many of the injured were brought on board Melbourne for treatment by Treloar's medical team. The carrier then spent several months under repair in Sydney before undertaking a deployment to Southeast Asia during July-August 1964. She operated in Australian waters for the remainder of the year. Brian Treloar was finally confirmed in the rank of Surgeon Commander on 31 December 1964 and returned to Penguin in February 1965 as Deputy Medical Officer-in-Charge of the RAN Hospital.
Surgeon Commander Brian Treloar, RAN and Lieutenant (Supply) CB Take, RN leaving the gangway of HMAS Melbourne in Sydney, circa February 1964.
In March 1968 Surgeon Commander Treloar was appointed the Senior Medical Officer and officer in charge of the Air Medical School (formerly the School of Aviation Medicine) at HMAS Albatross. In January 1969 he took up his first appointment in Navy Office as the Deputy Medical Director General and was promoted Captain on 30 June 1971. In October 1971 Surgeon Captain Treloar returned once again to Penguin, but this time as Medical Officer in Charge (MOIC) of the RAN Hospital and Command Medical Officer (for the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Australia). In 1977 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal. Surgeon Captain Treloar served as MOIC of the RAN Hospital, at HMAS Penguin, for a record nine years until promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed as Director-General Naval Health Services on 2 April 1981. He was also honorary physician to Queen Elizabeth II during 1976-1984.
Rear Admiral Treloar was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day Honours List 1985 "for service as the Director General of Naval Health Services and Chairman of the Services Health Policy Committee".
Rear Admiral Brian Tremayne Treloar retired from the RAN in 1987 and passed away in Canberra on 14 December 2012.
RADM Treloar with Able Seaman Fred Strezlecki at the RAN Hospital at HMAS Penguin.
