Born on 28 March 1897 in
Hughenden,
Queensland, Fraser was the eldest child of Hugh Barron Fraser, an English-born civil servant, and his Australian wife Clara Emma,
née Jones. He attended
Brisbane Grammar School, before studying medicine at the
University of Queensland; he transferred after a year to
St Andrew's College of the
University of Sydney and graduated in 1921 with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degrees (
MB, ChM). Fraser spent a year as resident medical officer at
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in
Sydney. In 1923, he became a
general practitioner in
Brisbane and took up a part-time post at the city's Children's Hospital. In 1938 he became a lecturer in paediatric surgery at the University of Queensland and was awarded a Master of Surgery degree in 1940. He remained at the Children's Hospital until 1957. In the meantime, he served in the
Citizen Military Forces from 1923 as a
captain in the
Royal Australian Army Medical Corps. From 1934 to 1935 and 1936 to 1939 he commanded the
7th Field Ambulance and secured promotion to
lieutenant-colonel in 1935. Serving in the
Australian Imperial Force during the
Second World War, he commanded the 2nd and 3rd Field Ambulances in the
United Kingdom from 1940 with the rank of
colonel and was posted as assistant director of medical services for the Australian Imperial Force in the United Kingdom. He went on to command the
2nd Australian General Hospital in the
Middle East (1941–42) and returned to Australia as deputy director of medical services for Queensland Lines of Communication Areas, serving until 1954. In 1955, he was promoted to honorary
brigadier. With the war over, he focused on his former practice and campaigned for a chair of paediatrics at the University of Queensland. He was president of
British Medical Association's Queensland Branch (1952) and of the
Australian Paediatrics Association (1958–59), as well as a fellow of the
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was appointed a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire in 1953, a
Knight Bachelor in 1958 and a Knight of the
Order of St John the following year. He died on 24 June 1969 and was survived by his wife, Edith Mary Patricia Lloyd
née Hart (whom he had married in 1929), and their two sons and two daughters. == References ==