Henry Leo Brewer was born on 10 June 1909 at Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. His father Sydney was a master builder and his mother Annie May de Piazza came from an Italian family who emigrated to Australia in the early 1870's and settled on land which the family still farm. His early education was with a tutor since he suffered poliomyelitis at the age of 3, did not walk until he was 7 and wore irons until his late teens. He attended St Patrick's College, Ballarat, where he was dux of the school and proceeded to the University of Melbourne in 1926. Graduating in 1932 he spent a year as resident at the Children's Hospital, Melbourne and was then superintendent at St Vincents' until 1938 when he left for England, but had meanwhile suffered a ruptured appendix, diphtheria and brachial neuritis. In 1941 he obtained his FRCS and then served as a ship's surgeon on a number of Atlantic crossings. Returning to Australia he joined the Army Medical Corps and then contracted tuberculosis, he was invalided in 1945 as a Major and returned to the family home at Mudgegonga, Victoria. Finally he joined a group surgical practice in Albury where he was admired and respected by all in local affairs. He became an inaugural member of the Albury Mercy Hospital and senior honorary consulting surgeon at the Albury Base Hospital. He married Mary Therese McGowan in 1958, her father had been the first town planner for the city of Melbourne. They had two daughters of whom one became a business administrator and the other, Rose Mary, practises medicine at St Vincent's, Melbourne, and a son who is a farmer. For 26 years Brewer was surgeon to the Albury Racing Club as he had a life-long interest in horse racing. He was unable to play active sports as the polio had left him lame but he excelled at billiards and won numerous cups and tournaments. In 1979 he developed heart failure but, with a pacemaker, was still in practice until his sudden death on December 4 1981, survived by his family.