Walter Henry Collins Scott was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 10 August 1924, the son of Walter C Scott and Florence (née Tonks). His father was a successful businessman and a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign in the first world war. He received his early education at Scotch College, Melbourne and subsequently graduated with honours in surgery from the Medical School of Melbourne University in 1950. Following junior posts at Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia, and the Royal Hobart Hospital he was appointed surgical registrar at the Royal Women's Hospital, Victoria, and later at the Alfred Hospital. Like so many of his generation, he then came to England to obtain further postgraduate training at Watford Hospital and St George's Hospital, London, and passed the final FRCS in 1956. Following his return to Australia, Scott obtained the FRACS in 1959 and in the same year was appointed honorary surgeon to St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, from 1959 to 1974. For almost thirty years he ran a successful private practice in Collins Street, Melbourne, and in 1966 he was the leader of the civilian surgical team from St Vincent's Hospital which served in Vietnam. In addition to having a successful surgical career he was also keenly interested in sport, especially cricket and fishing and had a wide knowledge of music, art and literature. He is said to have had a wonderful wit and keen sense of humour which endeared him to all who knew him. Scott married Deirdre Patterson, a trained nurse, in 1953, and they had two sons and two daughters, none of whom followed a medical career. He died of lung cancer on 23 January 1989.