LOCAL LIFE
Dr Phil Hungerford
to deliver it into the future.”
Phil’ s journey to becoming a highly respected doctor began as a student at Bilpin Public and then Richmond High before commencing a Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of NSW.
In 1981 during his first year out of university, Phil was presented with a short Country Secondment to Tamworth’ s Rural Referral Hospital.
Two years later, Phil returned to Tamworth where over the ensuing three years he honed his remarkable medical skills and also meet and fell in love with a colleague, Registered Nurse, Michelle.
The couple married in’ 86 and the following year moved onto new positions at Gosford Hospital where Phil studied to become a Medical Emergency Specialist.
They returned to Tamworth Hospital in 1991 and over the ensuing years Phil dedicated much of his career to rural health and taking director positions in Emergency Critical Care, Intensive Care and Palliative Care sectors.
“ I found that the end-of-life conversations I had with patients and their families in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit were a good training ground for the world of palliative care medicine,” Phil said.
The 70-year-old is now semi-retired, still in harness part-time at Tamworth Hospital, with he and Michelle splitting their time between Tamworth and their other home in Berambing.
“ We love coming down to Berambing where my parents, Gwen and Brian, and my grandparents spent all their lives,” Phil said.“ Especially chuffed is Michelle who, since retiring, has developed a passion for art and I’ m proud to say she has progressed into becoming a talented artist.”
Michelle and Phil are proud parents of Emily, a schoolteacher, Tom, who rubs people the right way as a physiotherapist, and Joe and Max who own and operate the popular Old Shed Distillery at Bilpin.
And doting grandparents to three boys and two girls!
Your writer asked Phil what motivated him into becoming a doctor.
“ You’ ll laugh at this, but it was a near death experience when I was just five,” he said.“ I was bitten by a funnel-web( spider), my dad put me in his car and sped down to Kurrajong where Dr Bain provided lifesaving treatment before I was placed in an ambulance and taken to Camperdown Children’ s Hospital, where I spent a further week or so recuperating.
“ Welcomed back home by all the family, my wonderful grandmother, Mary, said something to me which as it turned out, was quite prophetic –‘ You were saved for a reason’.
“ She was a truly marvellous grandmother, and it was she who nurtured my interest in music, teaching me the piano from when I was seven, however I
Dr Phil( r) belts out a tune during a Richmond High School reunion. It was also a reunion of the band members who played together as students back in 1970. Phil’ s brother Mark is on( red) bass, Warick Hadfield, also at the mic, and Robert Grewcoe on drums.
nearly broke her heart when I switched to playing the guitar at 14.”
During his student years at university, Phil put on solo shows playing folk and blues at pubs and clubs in Sydney, the Hawkesbury and of course, at the UNSW bars.
During his early years at Tamworth, he linked with various mates performing in bands and duos.
In 1988 Phil cut his first LP( long playing) disc – a“ ballady and folksy” mix of his own compositions.
Down the years, Phil has continued his love affair with music, playing guitar, singing and still knocking our songs including“ It’ ll all Catch Ya Up in the End” which the ABC Radio’ s Ian McNamara regularly spins on his popular Australia all Over program.
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THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine. com. au ISSUE 184 // SEPTEMBER 2025 7