Gillespie Neal McGilp Orr – always known as Neil – was born on 19 October 1919 in Toowoomba, Queensland. His parents, Neil Duncan McGilp Orr (1870-1920) and Agnes Rankin Orr (1888-1943) were Scottish immigrants who lived in a property called *St Helens*. After attending Toowoomba Grammar School, he enrolled at the University of Sydney to study medicine becoming a resident of Wesley College. While there he was a member of the college rowing team. He graduated MB, BS in 1944. After working as an intern at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, he travelled to the UK as a ship’s surgeon. After arrival in 1947 he was employed at various hospitals but was principally at Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, where he did most of his surgical training. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1960 and returned to Australia. Mona Vale Hospital was under construction at the time and Neil joined the staff as its first Medical Superintendent, helping to get it running and appoint new staff. He lived in a house in the grounds overlooking the sea and was an avid swimmer. In 1986 he retired but retained a keen interest in the establishment and staff he knew so well – he even continued to occasionally assist the surgeons although he had given up operating himself. He also assisted his friend Josephine Wiseman, a practitioner of nuclear medicine, and it was she who looked after him when he was confined to a wheelchair during his prolonged last illness. He died on 9 August 2010 aged 90.