John Williams, Treasures of Nhill & District Facebook page, 6 July 2023, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times
Digby Ian Harris OAM was Nhill ’s sturdy, warm-hearted family doctor for over 4 decades, a man of professional skill, enthusiasm, intelligence and humanity.
He was known by everyone and had gained great respect, esteem and love. And he knew his people even better than they knew themselves.
Knew them from birth, what stock they were made of, their constitution, habits in life, social and moral qualities and their secrets too.
It was a privilege to be his patient or to just know this man with a sense of humour and unflappable charm. He was involved in the community life of Nhill, in sports, and service clubs and also with an abiding interest in public affairs.
He enjoyed nurturing his children Jamie, Janne, Adrienne and Alastair, gardening, stamp collecting and birdwatching. His sport was tennis, squash, bowls, golf and in his younger years training with the Nhill Football Club, although he never played for the Tigers.
He did play footy for the Adelaide University Varsity Team in 1947 and made his presence felt in the ruck.
Digby Harris came from the age of compassion and arrived in Nhill in June 1954 after beginning his medical career in Adelaide in 1952, first working at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, then as a locum for 6 months and finally as a GP in Glenelg before moving east.
Keen to work in the country with his new wife Leonie, he was able to purchase the practice of Dr Raymond Tonkin in Nhill which had become available in 1954.
For a time he was the only doctor in the town when Doctor John Oliphant retired due to ill health in 1963.
Many months later Doctor Ernest Bailey joined Harris’s practice.
Doctor Harris had only planned to stay in Nhill for 5 years but ended up serving the community for a remarkable 45 years.
The good doctor died in Adelaide on November 19th 2011 aged 83, leaving a mourning and grateful community.
He had served on numerous health committees and was made a Life Governor of the Hospital in 1975. It was just one of many life memberships he held.
He played an enormous role in the development of the West Wimmera Health Service and this is recognised with the Iona Digby Harris Nursing Home adjacent to Nhill Hospital.
On Australia Day in 1997 Dr Harris was awarded the OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) for service to community health, particularly as an executive committee member of the Nhill and District Handicapped Person’s Welfare Association, the Cooinda Day Care Centre, the Avonlea Old Folks Home and the Nhill Hospital Board of Management.
A year later, it was time to retire. Doctor Digby and Leonie left Nhill to live in Adelaide in 1998 after Community Farwells were held in Nhill and Goroke.
The much-loved couple returned to Nhill for the 2009 Back to Nhill and were driven around the Nhill Show in a golf cart before Digby officially opened the event.
Those who paid tribute to him after his death in 2011 described him as a rarity with exceptional skills as a GP and surgeon, an amazing individual and irreplaceable.
The death of Doctor Harris’s wife Leonie followed just three months later in February 2012.
The West Wimmera Health Service paid tribute, saying Leonie was an esteemed member of the Nhill community for more than 40 years.
She was much loved and respected by all and her caring nature and loyalty earned her a special place in the widespread community. A gentle, compassionate and special lady.
I couldn’t go to London, couldn’t go to Paris
I had to come to Nhill to see Dr Harris
With ups and downs, joys and tears, he has been with us for 40
years
Sometimes its doom and gloom, but he has a large harem
That follows him from room to room.
When pains are rife, he is good with the knife; he does enjoy
life!
He helps them from the womb and guides them to the tomb
He is always on call, but we know he’s having a ball
It is the rumour that he has the greatest sense of humour- even
when dissecting a tumour.
He is a master with the plaster, but he couldn’t work much
faster — even in a disaster.
His surgery is always packed and that’s a fact.
Running late maybe! But he’s never been sacked.
His interests are varied and many and he’s not afraid to blow
the odd penny.
He is a mean writer and an avid bird sighter
But hasn’t always had luck when shooting a duck!
As for fishing, he’s keen, though his spare time is lean, and he
hurtles along in a racy red machine.
Though not a good pose, he grows a mean rose, prizes he is
proud of from the Nhill Shows.
Out in the garden, he is seen in his garb. He has even been
known to get a prize for rhubarb!
As a golfer, he’s fine, and he loves a good wine when he finds
time to dine.
He has nice eyes and we know he is wise—even wiser than his
size, which he cannot disguise.
He should have called the handyman, for we have the proof; he
wouldn’t have fallen right through the roof!
The rumours of his age are varied and plenty, but he barely
looks a day over twenty!
We know the police would have a stroke if they knew how fast
he drives to Goroke.
A Chocoholic, he is a ‘something’ he makes his biz.
He is enjoying his life with a very fine wife and family of four,
who have since added more.
Of friends, he had many enemies not any
He is the best of his kind and is worth every penny.
The above ode was written by Kate Dart (Catherine Mary Jane Dart) at the age of 94 and apparently, she used to recite some of the verses when visiting the good doctor at his surgery.
The golfers of Nhill will always remember Doctor Harris as most of the hundreds of pine trees on the course had been donated by him. He raised them in pots until they were mature enough to plant out.
This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 16 August 2023.
