Obituaries Australia

Judah Leon Jona was born in Adelaide on November 21st, 1886, to Walter and Eva Jona. With the aid of scholarships, which he won each year, he entered Way College in 1900, Prince Alfred College in 1903, and the University of Adelaide in 1904; at the latter he began both the Science and the Medical course. His scholastic career continued to be studded with awards; the Elder Prize in 2nd year Medicine, 1905; Honours B.Sc. Degree with Honours in Physiology, 1906; Bursary at Trinity College, Melbourne, and Exhibition in Physiology, 3rd Year Medicine, Melbourne, 1907. Owing to financial troubles in 1909 he was compelled to give up his medical course in the middle of his fifth year, and he was given a University Scholarship in Physiology and appointed a Demonstrator in Physiology in the University of Melbourne. In 1910 he was awarded D.Sc., Adelaide, and the David Murray Research Prize in Science, University of Adelaide; he was also appointed Lecturer in Physiology, University of Melbourne. In 1911 he qualified M.B., B.S., Melbourne, received the Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical research, London (one of ten awarded annually throughout the British Empire, with a total value of £750 over three years), and was a member of the Faculties of Science and Veterinary Science in the University of Melbourne.

The period 1912-13 was spent in research at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, under the former Melbourne Professor, C.J. Martin F.R.S. In addition, Leon did post-graduate work at the Hospital for Women, Chelsea, the Hospital for Women, Soho, and the West London Post graduate School and Hospital, visited the large provincial hospitals and the Rotunda and Stevens Hospitals in Dublin, attended and took post-graduate courses at the Charite, the largest hospital in Berlin, and saw the work in the Schauta and Wertheim Clinics in Vienna. Returning home late in 1913 he gained his M.D. Melb. Degree, and he obtained minor appointments in medical and gynaecological clinics at the Melbourne Hospital. In 1917 he won the Rogers Prize, University of London, for a thesis on fever and in 1919 he was awarded M.S. Adelaide. In 1917 he was appointed Locum tenens, Honorary Obstetric Surgeon, Women’s Hospital, which he held almost continuously until he gained his definite appointment in 1924. In 1925 he was made Honorary Assistant Gynaecological Surgeon, a position he held till he retired from the Women’s Hospital in 1946. He became F.R.A.C.S. in 1929 and M.R.C.O.G. in 1935.

His military service though not outstanding covered a long period. He enlisted as Captain, A.A.M.C. in 1911, attended a course at the R.A.M.C. College, Millbank, London, in 1912-13, and served with a medical unit in Roumania and Bulgaria during the 2nd Balkan War of 1913. He volunteered for active service in 1914, but he was retained in Australia to become S.M.O. in various camps and C.O. of 45th, 16th and 20th Field Ambulances for varying periods. In 1939 he was not accepted for active service abroad, but served overseas as a surgeon in the British Merchant Service. He was a member of the Australian council for U.N.R.R.A. and in this capacity visited London and the middle East.

He spent 1926 and 1927 in Europe and the United Kingdom seeing the leading men, attending congresses, and undertaking various studies. Again, in 1935-37 he made another extended trip and among other activities attended medical and scientific meetings in Hungary, Russia, Palestine and Egypt; he also spent some time in U.S.A.

Leon Jona was a prolific writer and contributed to various journals at least 38 original articles; these ranged over a wide field from "Refractive Indices of the Eye Media of Some Australian Animals" through "Segmental Distribution of Blood Vessels in Upper Limb" to obstetrical and gynaecological subjects. But the work that gained him his international reputation was that dealing with the physiology of the kidney pelvis, which was reported in eight papers over the years 1928-36. As a result of his work he became a Member of the Physiological Society, England, a Fellow of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine London. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Victoria, a Fellow of the Australian Chemical Institute, a Member of the Palestine Medical Association, and a Member of the International Association of Surgeons.

Leon was versatile, very much alive in spite of his bulk, and he loved living. In 1927 he learnt to fly and was a member of the Royal Aero Club of Victoria. He enjoyed walking, overseas travel, meeting and conversing with people, and he was fluent, both reading and speaking, in French, German and Yiddish. He also took a leading part in Jewish Communal matters, Zionist Organisations, and various branches of Freemasonry. He was a brilliant scholar, an unusually well qualified medical man, and yet an unaffectedly modest and sincere individual whose erudition and culture enhanced a jovial personality.

Leon Jona married Elsie Kozminsky in 1913, and there were three children, girls, all of whom married. He died at Melbourne on 19th April, 1964.