Doc Kenrick

Doctor Henry George Lock Kenrick (sometimes spelled Kendrick, Idriess refers to him as Hendrick, also called Jock in contemporary articles) was born in 1844 in Melksham, Wiltshire, England.

He served the district around 1900, and was highly respected from Hebel and Goodooga to Walgett for his ingenuity when it came to medical techniques. He saved many a life with minimal resources, often testing his own strength to the limit.  

On the Lightning Ridge opal fields, subscriptions were made by the families at Wallangulla (Old Town) and at Nettleton (Three Mile Flat) to ensure Doc Kenrick’s presence.

Kenrick may not have held a medical licence, but he still performed miracles. Among Kenrick’s successes included the surgical reattachment of Robert Moore’s hand after an accident involving a circular saw, the insertion of a metal plate in a man’s head after a bar fight left him with a cracked skull, curing a child after poisoning with vermin baits and setting his own broken leg after he was thrown from his horse while traveling to Walgett.

Doc Kenrick passed away of cancer in 1911 in the Walgett District. He is buried at Walgett Cemetery.

• Doc Kenrick @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 91, 130; Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals, Ion L. Idriess, 1940, chapter XXXI; Walgett Spectator, 15 January 1900, 12 October 1907, 9 November 1907, 6 August 1909, 21 July 1911; They Struck Opal!, E. F. Murphy, 1948, p. 148; ‘Jock’, Gilgandra Weekly, 14 November 1929; ‘Walgett’, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 28 April 1887, p. 3; ‘Miscellaneous Items’, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 16 September 1884, p. 2; ‘Figaro’s At Home’, Queensland Figaro, 17 January 1885, p. 26; ‘Northern Notes’, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 17 December 1886, p. 6.