“Guard your honour. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.”
Robert Likeman was born in England and studied Classics, Oriental Languages and Medicine at Brasenose College Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital London.
He emigrated to Australia in 1972. He has also worked in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Zealand. Robert is qualified as a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Rural and Remote Medicine, and Tropical Medicine, and was Medical Superintendent of the Kirwan Hospital for Women in Townsville, Queensland, from 1986-1996.
He served in the Australian Army for 24 years, first in the Army Reserve and then in the Regular Army. He served overseas on operations three times, including the peace-keeping mission in Rwanda in 1995, and in 2001 was awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal. His last posting was as Director of Army Health in Canberra with the rank of Colonel.
Robert is the author of several books, and now lives in retirement on Hope Island on Queensland’s Gold Coast. He is still fully occupied with writing and lecturing. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia by HM the Queen on Australia Day 2019 ‘for service to medicine’.
PUBLICATIONS
Health Mission in Alexander’s City: the treatment of Eye Disease in Afghanistan. Geographical Magazine 196941:2:346
Cone Shell and Turtle Meat Poisoning. PNG Medical Journal 197518:2:125
Botulism and Turtles. PNG Medical Journal 197720:20:93
Choriocarcinoma in Auckland NZ. NZ Medical Journal 198293:686:426
Peripheral Obstetrics. NZ Medical Journal 198295:710:436
Toxic Shock Syndrome. NZ Medical Journal 198396:729:268
Toxic Shock Syndrome Again. NZ Medical Journal 198396:736:586
Stabilization and Transport of Newborn Infants and High Risk Pregnancies 1988, with G J Reynolds, published by Townsville Hospitals Board
Cognitive and Social Influences on Smoking during Pregnancy. Aust NZ Journal of O & G 1992; 32:1:87
The Boldest Procedure Possible for Checking the Bleeding. A New Look at an Old Operation and a series of 13 cases from an Australian Hospital. Aust NZ Journal ofO & G 1992; 32:3:256
Ambulance Trains in North Queensland, in Bridgeheads of Northern Health, ed J.H. Pearn , Amphion Press 1996, Chapter 6, pp 101-114
Which Korotkoff sound should be used for diastolic blood pressure measurement in pregnancy ? Aust NZ Journal of O & G 1998; 38:4:479-480
Obstetric and Gynaecological Surgery in the Third World, with Professor Ian Jones and Professor Jeremy Oats, published by the Mater MIsericordiae Hospital Brisbane 2001
Men of the Ninth – a History of the Ninth Australian Field Ambulance, 1916-1994, published by Slouch Hat Publications 2003
Should Obstetricians support a “term cephalic trial” ? Aust NZ Journal of O & G April 2004, 44:2:173
From Law to War: the Biography of Brigadier General Lachlan Wilson of the Light Horse, published by Slouch Hat Publications 2004.
Scrub Typhus: a recent outbreak in military personnel in North Queensland, ADF Health, Vol 7, No 1, April 2006.
'Tis but the Time: the biography of LtCol J Espie Dods, DSO, MC, published by Slouch Hat Publications 2007.
Volunteer Medics in the Vietnam War. Book Review. Medical Journal of Australia, Vol 191, Number 11/12, p631.
Gallipoli Doctors: the Australian Doctors at War Series, Volume 1, published by Slouch Hat Publications 2010.
From the Tropics to the Desert: the Australian Doctors at War Series, Volume 2, published by Slouch Hat Publications 2012.
Manual of Security Sensitive Microbes and Toxins, Chapter 41 ‘Conotoxins’. Published by Taylor and Francis, 2013. Joint author with Dr JP Bingham et al, University of Hawaii.
No Time for Regret: the Australian Doctors at War Series, Volume 3, published by Rosenberg Publishing July 2014.
Outlive the Bastards: the Australian Doctors at War Series, Volume 4. Published under one cover with No.23 by Rosenberg Publishing, July 2014
Physician, heal thyself. A doctor considers the inner turmoil experienced when serving in a war zone. Medical Journal of Australia, 202(7) 20 April 2015.
Australian and New Zealand Contributions to Medical Advances in WW1. Internal Medicine Journal, Volume 45, Supplement S3, p 15, 15 May 2015
Cone shell envenomation: epidemiology, pharmacology and medical care. Co-author with ZA Halford, PYC Yu, JS Hawley-Molloy, C Thomas and J-P Bingham. Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine, Volume 45 No 3, September 2015.
The Thousand Doors: the Australian Doctors at War Series, Volume 5, published by the Halstead Press, April 2019.