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NEWS 3
ausdoc. com. au 31 OCTOBER 2025

NEWS 3

The grandfather of general practice

The works of Professor John Murtagh sit on GPs’ bookshelves across the world.
Paul Smith and Jamie Thannoo HE was once described in the pages of
Australian Doctor as the JK Rowling of
medical publishing.
Emeritus Professor John Murtagh AO,
whose eponymous textbook is considered
the gold standard for GPs around the world,
has died, aged 89.
Born in the town of Coleraine, a rich
sheep-farming area in regional Victoria, Professor
Murtagh took an interest in medicine
after surviving polio at the age of eight.
He had been diagnosed by the local GP,
Dr Bill Tonkin, a man known for his fireside
chats and sense of vocation, who would
have a profound influence on the young
Murtagh’ s future life.
After toying with the idea of being a maths teacher, Professor Murtagh joined
Professor John Murtagh.
the first cohort of 130 medical students at
Melbourne’ s Monash University in 1961.
Only 29 would finish.
person who did not cut off easily from
— from Spanish to Turkish. One measure
“ We have spent so long promoting good
At a time when general practice was
others’ misfortunes.
of its impact is that the Mandarin version
palliative care and kindness and compas-
not regarded as a specialty, following
So when Monash University approached
became a core textbook for the 450,000
sion and patient advocacy, and now, it just
graduation, he and his wife, Dr Jill
him for a teaching job in 1979, he was ready
GPs in China: a country trying to shift its
feels as if we are turning our backs on that.”
Rosenblatt, moved to Neerim South— a
for change.
health system away from domination by
He also signed an open letter demand-
town of 350 in West Gippsland— where they
It was at Monash that he took on the
hospital specialists.
ing an end to Victoria’ s stage-four COVID-
daunting task of creating the first book to
The honours soon followed. He was
19 lockdowns in 2020, claiming they were
‘ For Dad, it was always about helping people.’
capture the vast reservoirs of knowledge that the discipline demanded.
“ For Dad, it was always about helping people,” said his daughter, Julie Tullberg.
made Officer of the Order of Australia in 1995 and awarded a fellowship with WONCA in 2007 and the AMA Gold Medal in 2018. The RACGP’ s John Murtagh
causing“ disproportionately enormous” harm when judged against the good being done to contain virus.
He will be remembered for his impact
“ I think he was always very conscious
Library was named in his honour in 2005.
on generations of GPs— from the current
shared a practice for nearly 10 years and
about what it was like being a GP in the
Professor Murtagh, a Catholic of deep
Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael
worked at the nearby 12-bed hospital.
country,” she added.
religious faith, was also willing to speak
Kidd to the new generations coming
Together, they provided a complete
“ When you are isolated in the country
out. In 2017, he threatened to quit the
through now.
service; with Professor Murtagh’ s skills in
— say, you are the only GP in the area— you
RACGP after it issued a media statement
Dr Anita Munoz, one of his former
surgery and Dr Rosenblatt’ s anaesthetics
do not have someone to help you, but you
endorsing Victoria’ s voluntary assisted
students and current chair of RACGP
experience, they coped with most emergen-
have got this book to guide you through
dying laws, calling on other jurisdictions
Victoria, said:“ I was always amazed that,
cies and surgical and obstetric cases.
Known for his no-nonsense worth ethic, his time as a rural GP was hugely rewarding but also demanding, where the lives of his patients could be hard.
In an interview with Australian Doctor, he once described himself as a sensitive
any sort of problem, and that is amazing.”
The first edition of John Murtagh’ s General Practice was published in 1994 and ran to more than 1500 pages.
It quickly found its place on the bookshelves of GPs across the globe, having been translated into 13 languages
to follow suit.
“ I do not particularly want to resign, but as a matter of principle, I might have to because this is against all the principles of good medicine; they are just sending the wrong message to patients,” he said at the time.
when I saw him throughout the decades, he remembered my name and expressed an interest in my journey, though I am only one of many, many hundreds of doctors he influenced over his career.
“ How lucky we have all been to have had him as a champion of our profession.”

Professor John Murtagh— a doyen, a scholar and a gentleman

FROM PAGE 1 outside the event itself. I could not have chosen a more Aussie venue than this Queenslander pub in Cairns, sipping beers as if I had been in the cane fields all day. I was in the company of Dr Sam Heard, one of the lesser GP gods.
To my amazement, no fewer than three current and past RACGP presidents stopped by to chat with Sam and— by accident— me. Then, Professor Murtagh appeared carrying his trademark smile and warmth.
Within a minute, he was asking all about me, wanting to know who I was and what made me tick. I had already known from his writing that he was a scholar; I now understood his reputation as a gentleman, a descriptor that has lost its glow this century yet remains brilliantly apt for an outstanding few whose era is passing even as I write.
It was some years later, as I was about to embark on a PhD on overdiagnosis and the role of the media, when my phone rang:“ Justin! John here. John Murtagh.”
I had forgotten people like him possessed a first name.
“ I am thinking you might like to help edit my book.”
My PhD idea dissolved before he hung up the phone.
That was three editions ago. This year, he remained every bit as involved in publishing the ninth edition of his GP bible, perhaps the
‘ His limitless passion for the betterment of our specialty gave him a unique credibility.’
world’ s most influential GP textbook over the past 30 years.
His mind remained sharp even as his body was betraying him— his shrinking spine a metaphor for the Atlas-like weight he had borne for decades.
The specialty of general practice had stood on his shoulders, evolving from a patchwork quilt cobbled from scraps of specialist wisdom into the robe that swaddles the health of our nation.
Our profession matured to adulthood under his careful watch.
I do have a small confession. In my view, John Murtagh’ s General Practice was not even his best book.
It is pipped by John Murtagh’ s Practice Tips, a collection of ridiculously handy and occasionally zany( those that survived my editing) hints for GP office procedures.
Its contents reflect not only Professor Murtagh’ s years of‘ getting things done’ in rural practice, but his capacity to harness GP contributors willing to share their wisdom with the wider collective.
His limitless passion for the betterment of our specialty gave him a unique credibility; everyone knew he would use their knowledge to the advantage of all.
I recall a decade-ago conversation with Australian Doctor editor Paul Smith. We were chatting( at a conference) about those cliches journalists come up with for headlines— top doctor, leading doctor, renowned doctor. But he noted that there was only one doctor in Australia to whom he would reserve the word‘ doyen’, and that was Professor Murtagh.
Dr Justin Coleman.
A couple of years ago, Professor Murtagh sent my wife a book they had been discussing over dinner— The Happiest Man on Earth, one of his favourite reads, written by Auschwitz survivor Eddie Jaku at the age of 100.
“ Your efforts today will affect people you will never know,” he wrote.“ Give something, something will come back … Remember that a flower is not just a flower, it is the start of a whole garden.”
I guess the person who landscaped Australian general practice has just hung up his gardening gloves. It is a sad day. His presence will be sorely missed. But may the roses continue to bloom.