Dr Herbert John Solomon (Fr 1948)
(1929-2020)

The Principal, Council and St Andrew’s College community honour the life of Dr Herbert John Solomon (Fr 1948) who passed away recently, after a protracted battle with illness.

John resided in St Andrew's College whilst studying Medicine at the University of Sydney. He represented his year cohort on the House Committee from his fresher year until he became an exemplary Senior Student in 1954. John was a member of many of the College's sporting teams, including the athletics, cricket and rugby teams. He became College rugby captain in his second year, and was a dashing batsman and an inspiring wicket keeper, also captaining the College cricket team from 1952 until 1954.

John began his Sydney Uni and NSW representative rugby career in 1948, aged 19, playing 5/8, centre, wing or fullback in a career of 44 first grade games for Uni and 19 for NSW. He made his debut for Australia in 1949, in the Bledisloe Cup winning campaign, and went on to play 14 tests, appointed as captain for the first time in 1952 at 22 years of age. He captained the Wallabies in 8 tests, including two tours of New Zealand and a four-month tour of South Africa. The highlight of his career was beating the Springboks in the second test of the tour in Cape Town. The Springboks were the reigning world champions and it was the first time they had been beaten in fifteen years. In a surprise gesture, fitting the rarity of the result, the Springbok forwards chaired John from the field. John coached the Wallabies in three tests against the Springboks in 1956, and enjoyed Premiership success as coach of Sydney Uni between 1964 and 1967. John was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and inducted into the Australian Rugby Hall of Fame in 2016.

Despite the extraordinary extra-curricular life he led outside of university, John completed his studies and went on to forge a distinguished medical career, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology. He won the Obstetrics prize upon his graduation in 1954, and then studied at Oxford University for a year on scholarship before working at King George V hospital in Sydney for forty-two years, where he delivered over 6000 babies. Later in his career he focused on Gynaecology Oncology and was a founding member of the King George V Gynaecology Oncology Unit.

The Solomon family are held strongly in our thoughts and our dearest sympathy is extended to all who knew him. He will be truly missed.

A private service will be held in the coming weeks for his family to mark his passing. Later in the year when the circumstances permit we hope that there will be an opportunity to celebrate John’s life with the College community.