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But you certainly wouldn’t play it JAZZ Style!

And the band played “Waltzing Matilda”
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
We sailed off for Gallipoli

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda”
When we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

For I’ll go no more Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more Waltzing Matilda for me

But the band played “Waltzing Matilda”
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda”
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all
_{^{extracted in parts from} * The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. song by Eric Bogle}

Many soldiers with limbs missing made it back to Australia, but returning to their normal lifestyle or routine would prove difficult.

In My Persian Amphora Elephant holds my memories! (#30) the problem of pain in the phantom limb/s is discussed and (John) Russell Barbour gets a mention. Here’s a bit more information on the same subject.

But what do we know about “High Cervical Chordotomy” or “Anterolateral Chordotomy” you may well ask?

A high cervical chordotomy is a specialized neurosurgical procedure designed to treat intractable, unilateral (one-sided) pain that has not responded to high-dose opioids or other interventions.

An anterolateral chordotomy is used for areas or limbs lower than shoulders and arms.

The goal of a chordotomy is to interrupt the pain signals traveling up the spinal cord to the brain.

The surgeon targets the lateral spinothalamic tract. This specific bundle of nerves carries pain and temperature sensations from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. By creating a lesion (a small, controlled “break”) in this tract at the high cervical level—typically between the C1 and C2 vertebrae—the patient loses the ability to feel pain on the opposite side of their body below the level of the lesion.

Does this make you feel a bit uneasy as to the process? Well, the description in the 3 paragraphs above describes the process as it is used in 2025.
There were only 2 examples of this procedure carried out in the UK in 1946, and little done afterwards, not in the open public arena anyway.

However, in 1948, the Medical Fraternity in Adelaide was in a hurry to find a treatment they could administer for the type of pain described above.
The perceived pain was coming from “Phantom Limbs”, and the trial was highly experimental (hit and miss).

The Doctors, including Russell Barbour, were covertly experimenting on Australian Returned Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen with high level Government oversight.
“High Cervical Chordotomy” and “Anterolateral Chordotomy” were not known in Australia in 1948. The procedures didn’t exist here.
And where were they likely hiding their mistakes?

So let’s travel back to Somerton Beach on Wednesday December 1st 1948!

Below are 2 extracts from the investigation notes:-

I guess the only thing I need to ask is “Was there a one-armed man in the morgue laying near Charlie’s facsimile?

Meanwhile, back in South Yarra:-

“Has anyone seen Leo, Jack or Gerry”?

“I think they’re down at the Boarding House, rehearsing in the Big Room”

Take me to the Contents Page please!

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To backtrack and brush up on what this case is about, go to Wikipedia here

_{To contact the author email onsomertonbeach@onsomertonbeach.com}