THE DR K.J. & A.A. WHITEHEAD FAMILY
The Whitehead family’s Named Fund reflects their investment in the community and future of the Mackay region. This fund honours Dr Kevin Whitehead’s remarkable contribution to medicine, with his wife Alma’s unwavering support, commitment to family and community involvement.
Dr Kevin John (K.J.) Whitehead (1915–1995)
Born on the first ANZAC Day, 25 April 1915, in Quambatook, Victoria, Dr Kevin John Whitehead was one of James and Margaret Whitehead’s eight children. After resuming his education in 1935, he attended the University of Melbourne, where he excelled both academically and in sport. A talented Australian Rules footballer, rower and golfer, he was awarded a Full Blue and two Half Blues; prestigious sporting awards for representing Melbourne and Australian Universities. As a resourceful student, he supplemented his income by catching tiger snakes for the Melbourne Zoo, where their venom was collected for antivenom research.
While studying medicine, Kevin met Alma Agnes Rettke, a student nurse. The two married in 1941, the same year he graduated in Medicine and Surgery. After moving to Queensland, where junior doctors received significantly higher salaries than in Victoria, he undertook his residency at Brisbane General Hospital (now the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital).
The Second World War interrupted Dr Whitehead’s medical career. Although he volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force, he was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps. Stationed in Darwin during the second Japanese bombing raid in 1942, he later served in Borneo, including the Battle of Labuan. His wartime service was recognised with the 1939–45 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, 1939–45 War Medal, and the Australian Service Medal.
Following the advice of a Catholic priest at Mount Morgan, Dr Whitehead moved with Alma and their young family to Mackay in 1947, to support the growing Catholic community in West Mackay. While their home and surgery were built on Nebo Road, the young family initially lived in Maguire’s Hotel. It was during this home-based practice that Dr Whitehead established a reputation that would make him one of Mackay’s most respected family doctors.
Only months after arriving, he gained widespread recognition for travelling through rough seas to Percy Island to attend the gravely ill wife of the lighthouse keeper. After concluding that she could not survive the return journey, Dr Whitehead performed emergency surgery on the verandah of the lighthouse residence. Newspaper reports of the remarkable operation introduced the young doctor to the Mackay community and helped establish his practice even further.
Over the next four decades, Dr Whitehead became the quintessential country family doctor. He served as Medical Officer for Sarina before the establishment of Sarina Base Hospital. After his time as Medical Officer to the Nebo Shire Council, he worked at the Mackay Mater Hospital for almost two-thirds of its history. Known affectionately as “KJ” by the Sisters of Mercy, he regularly travelled to Sydney to undertake refresher training in obstetrics and delivered thousands of babies, all while also training student midwives.
Dr Whitehead pioneered several medical firsts in Mackay, including introducing the town’s first gas-and-oxygen anaesthetic machine, performing the first rhesus-factor infant exchange transfusion, and owning Mackay’s first electrocardiograph (ECG) machine. Including the occasion of leading one of his racehorses into the Mater Hospital for an X-ray, his practical ingenuity became legendary.
His practice became part of what is now Ambrose Medical Group in 1978. Later relinquishing group practice, Dr Whitehead went back to private practice and continued practising until his retirement in 1990. Rarely speaking of his own achievements, he remained humble throughout his career. His patients remembered him not only for his medical expertise but for his willingness to sit, listen and care. Attached to the family home, his surgery was always accessible and many local families were cared for across four and even five generations.
Beyond medicine, Dr Whitehead was deeply involved in community life. He had extensive grazing interests in Mackay’s hinterland, operated a poultry farm at Foulden, and shared a passion with Alma about thoroughbred racing. As President of the Mackay Turf Club from 1970 to 1993 and a committee member of the North Queensland Racing Association, he helped oversee significant development of racing in the region. In his later years, he even fulfilled a lifelong ambition by obtaining his pilot’s licence. Dr Whitehead’s trademark bow tie is fondly remembered by his friends and family, as is his enduring sayings, “If it’s not coming easily, you’re doing it the wrong way,” and “Time is a wonderful healer.”
Alma Agnes Whitehead (née Rettke) (1921–2015)
Born in 1921, Alma Agnes Rettke trained as a nurse before marrying Kevin Whitehead in 1941 while he was still completing his medical studies. Throughout their 54-years of marriage, she was his constant partner, supporting both his demanding medical career and the busy life of a growing family.
Following the family’s move to Mackay in 1947, Alma became an integral part of the Whitehead household and practice. She often helped patients who were migrants with learning English. While raising their four children, she was actively involved in the community and later owned and operated the well-known deli at Fourways, where she became familiar to many local residents.
In later years, Alma played an important role in helping manage the Cockenzie Homestead, supporting their son and contributing to the operation of the family’s grazing enterprise. Together, she and Kevin shared a love of horse racing, boating and fishing and were active participants in Catholic parish life and numerous community activities.
Alma was remembered for her warmth, generosity and quiet strength. She lived until 2015, witnessing the enduring respect the Mackay community continued to hold for her, her husband and their family.