Dr Vic Callanan remembered for jellyfish sting work on Surf Life Saving memorial day
North Queenslanders, including Dr Vic Callanan, who worked to keep us safe at the beach have been remembered in a moving tribute. Read the touching tribute.
Townsville
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The Townsville doctor who played a key role in researching treatment of jellyfish stings has been honoured by surf lifesavers as those who served the community in the ocean are remembered.
Sunday was Surf Life Saving memorial day and members of Arcadian Surf Life Saving Club laid wreaths in the water and observed a minute of silence.
Eleven people were posthumously honoured during the ceremony, inlcuding Arcadian SLSC members Alan West, Bob Sherry, Roger Kwong, Fran Bonner and Allan Sherret.
Phillip Cavanagh, Matty Kangas, Matty Kauppila and Lyn Escurialli of the Forrest Beach SLSC were also honoured, as was Neil ‘Snake’ Dearness of the Townsville Picnic Bay club.
Honorary Arcadian club member and renowned physician Dr Vic Callanan researched jellyfish toxicity and treatments for decades. He died in February this year, aged 80.
His wife Doreen Callanan presented wreaths to surf life savers alongside Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill on Sunday at The Strand.
The wreaths were taken out onto the water by surf life savers, laid upon the sea and a moments silence was observed.
“As long as there are rips on the beach, as long as there are creatures in the surf, and as long as there are beachgoers who push the limits, we need all of you in the red and yellow,” Mayor Hill said.
Monday May 1 will be the last day surf lifesaving patrols on beaches from Sarina to Forrest Beach. The stinger nets will also be removed after May 1.
There have been multiple serious incidents on North Queensland beaches this year, inlucding when a young boy was stung by a jellyfish at Cungulla in early April and taken to hospital in a serious condition. He has since recovered.
In another incident, a 17 cm box jellyfish was caught by a drag net at Forrest Beach.
“We recognise and reflect that not everyone whose day at the beach goes awry can be saved,” Cr HIll said.
Communities up and down this stretch of North Queensland were immensely indebted to surf life savers, she said.
“We also remember those who have dedicated their whole lives to surf safety,” Cr Hill said.
“It is a special type of person who puts the lives and health of others above self.”
Doreen Callanan said she remembered the welts on her husband’s arm from testing jellyfish stings.
She was proud of her husband, who “played a part” in discovering vinegar as a treatment for stings, alongside colleagues from JCU and the Australian Institute Of Marine Science.
Dr Callanan co-authored a 1980 study with Dr Robert Hartwick and John Williamson looking at treatments for box jellyfish stings, titled Disarming the Box-Jellyfish.
At the time of his passing a colleague of Dr Callanan’s, Keiran Keyes, said the late doctor was a pioneer in the management of jellyfish envenomation, and involved in the development of the original stinger suit.
Dr Callanan retired as director of anaesthetics at Townsville University Hospital in 2015.
“He was among the first to advocate for the use of vinegar in the treatment of jellyfish sting, a first-aid response that is now burned into the national consciousness,” Mr Keyes said at the time.
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Originally published as Dr Vic Callanan remembered for jellyfish sting work on Surf Life Saving memorial day
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