{"id":1082,"date":"2021-06-30T00:41:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T00:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2021-07-21T01:23:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T01:23:51","slug":"dr-speece-medical-man-of-mystery-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/2021\/06\/dr-speece-medical-man-of-mystery-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Speece – medical man of mystery – part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coffs Harbour Regional Museum recently received a treasure in the form of a letter written by Dr Will C. Speece at the turn of the 20th century.\u00a0The letter was compiled on a typewriter, but that did not hide the tone of the writing: “I warn you that the doctor’s instruction’s [sic] to the crowd in search of grati-fied curiosity is_go to hell or go home_ and you see that you do as I say.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

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Letter from Dr W Speece to Mr Buchanan family, early 1900s. Coffs Harbour Regional Museum M2021.48.1 [A transcript is available for reading at<\/em> https:\/\/coffs.recollect.net.au\/nodes\/view\/71704<\/a>.] The patient in question was a child of the Buchanan family at Karangi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Will Comely Speece was an American surgeon with a degree from Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, his home state. He graduated in 1883. [1]<\/p>\n

He migrated to Australia in 1885 on the Zealandia<\/em>, practising first in Queensland as a medical insurance agent. He came to this region in 1898 as a doctor for the Bucca Mines, but as he was the only one in town with medical expertise, he also cared for the local population.<\/p>\n

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Dr Will Speece stands outside his home at Coramba. Coffs Harbour Regional Museum, mus07-4011, https:\/\/coffs.recollect.net.au\/nodes\/view\/46616<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Speece was also an avid writer of Letters to the Editor. He started soon after arrival in Australia; sending epistles to several newspapers and The Bulletin<\/em> on topics unrelated to medical matters:<\/p>\n

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ASIATIC CARRIERS. (1893, November 10). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 7. http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article13926216<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some commentary is no longer appropriate, but he did want the best for his fellow man.<\/p>\n

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Published after his death, The Bulletin, 28 November 1907, p.11 at https:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.obj-638238592\/view?partId=nla.obj-638272983<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Speece died on 10 October 1907, at the relatively early age of 45, after a short bout of pneumonia. His death certificate indicates that he was buried in the Coffs Harbour (Historic) Cemetery, but there is no record of his gravesite. [Source: NSW BDM 12829\/1907.]<\/p>\n

While investigating the life of Dr Speece, it became apparent that there were two men with the same name and title. After a series of crimes in the late 1870s, Sidney Herbert started using the name in 1891.<\/p>\n

Where did their paths cross?<\/p>\n

Why did Speece choose this area to settle in?<\/p>\n

To be continued…<\/p>\n

References<\/em><\/p>\n

[1] California, U.S. Occupational Licences, Registers, and Directories, 1876-1969; Annual Physician Directory, 1896<\/p>\n

Acknowledgment<\/em><\/p>\n

The Coffs Harbour Regional Museum expresses its gratitude to the Coffs Harbour District Family History Society for passing this treasure into its care, for all to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Coffs Harbour Regional Museum recently received a treasure in the form of a letter written by Dr Will C. Speece at the turn of the 20th century. The letter was compiled on a typewriter, but that did not hide the tone of the writing: “I warn you that the doctor’s instruction’s [sic] to the crowd … Continue reading “Dr Speece – medical man of mystery – part 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}