Empowering the next generation

A pioneer in his field, with a Medal of the Order of Australia awarded in 2006, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Old Boy Dr John Arvier ’70 remains modest when talking about his work and achievements.

In his 35-year career as a specialist, John has combined public hospital work and a busy private practice with training the next generation of oral surgeons in Australia and overseas. Since 2003 he’s also been on the sidelines at State of Origin, Super 15 and Wallabies rugby matches, to treat facial lacerations, broken jaws and cheekbones.

“I had ambitions as a child of playing rugby for Australia, so hanging around the players is the next best thing,” he says. “My son Matthew and I were the first father and son pair to wear the same dark blue jersey (No.8) for the First XV.”

Countless patients in Australia and overseas will be glad John chose surgery over rugby. Since his first trip to Bangladesh in 1991, he has made 38 largely self-funded overseas trips as a volunteer surgeon.

John’s work overseas falls into two categories. “Conditions like cleft palate are treated in children here, but in many developing countries they go untreated and grow. Road trauma is also a huge problem – roads are chaotic and no one wears seatbelts.

“Seeing people living in terrible poverty brings home how lucky we are in Australia,” he says. “You can’t not go then. It gets into your system and you always feel like you could do a bit more.”

‘A bit more’ has included trips to Congo and Somaliland with Australian Doctors for Africa, and helping to establish university training in Bangladesh, PNG and Cambodia. John and his colleagues from the Australian and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons have developed the curriculum and student examinations.

“There’s that old adage – if you want to feed a man for a day, give him a fish. If you want to feed him for a lifetime, show him how to fish. It’s a very superficial analogy, but we thought training people who could show others was logical.”

At home in Queensland, John also taught and supervised the next generation of specialists. Surgical colleague and current BGS parent Dr Geoff Findlay met John as an undergraduate and found his overseas trips fascinating. “John would come speak to us, and at the end of the lecture, throw up a few slides of his volunteer work,” Geoff says. “You could see it took a huge amount of energy. The cases are complex, and the conditions he’s had to work under are nothing like what we take for granted here in Australia.”

Geoff says while most surgeons share their skills, John stands out for his commitment to fostering a sustainable, home grown workforce in developing countries. “He’s been tenacious in setting up the training programs. He doesn’t stop asking until it happens. He’s just a top bloke.”

In 2019, Geoff operated on a teenage girl from PNG who John had first treated as a child. She was flown to Brisbane for treatment by Rotary Overseas Medical Aid.

With Rotary, John and his wife Louise, a physiotherapist, have volunteered in Tanzania at the School of St Jude. The school was set up by Australian expat, Gemma Sisia, to educate the most disadvantaged children in that country.

John is grateful for his own education, and proud of his family’s association with both BGS and BGGS. Daughter Rebecca is a paediatrician at Qld Children’s Hospital.

“I am now aware I was very privileged to go to BGS. I was on a half scholarship, and I was always being told I wasn’t doing as well as I should have been,” John laughs. “I didn’t win any academic prizes, that’s for sure!”

“I’m the only one in the family whose name isn’t on any of the School Honour Boards: my father, my brother (Peter ’71), my two sons (Tim ’00 and Matthew ’07) are, but I’m not.

“However, Tim and I share a sporting achievement: we were the first father and son to have won the same GPS Track and Field event in the metric era (4x100m relay).”

John’s father, Astley (known as Maurie) ’36 was Captain of the BGS Rifle Club, served in World War II, and endured three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp after the fall of Singapore.

While Maurie was imprisoned, John’s grandfather paid for a life membership to the Old Boy Association, in a moving sign of hope that Maurie would return. John’s mother Alison (BGGS Head Girl in 1944) later called this “a good investment”.

John himself joined the RAAF after graduating from UQ Dental School. After serving in Townsville, he left in 1978 to further his surgical and medical studies in London and Adelaide, before returning to Brisbane.

Asked why he has dedicated so much of his time and energy to helping others, John says the rewards run both ways. “I’ve gained experiences and sights and friendships that no amount of money can buy. There’s professional satisfaction. That’s the bottom line.”