Penang Story Lecture: A Penang doctor in myth and reality

When Sydney, Yale and Edinburgh Universities received a multi-million dollar inheritance from the estate of Dr A.S. McKern in 2008, the bequest drew public attention to this Australian physician who spent most of his inter-war years in Penang. Contrary to popular belief that the physician hid in his Tanjung Bungah house during the Japanese occupation, new evidence surfaced when news of his death arised from a Japanese internment camp in Sumatera. This talk reveals archival records and wartime internment diaries that surrounds the final years of McKern's remarkable career and legacy.