Beloved WA doctor retires after 45 years

Perth Now

4 days ago

From hanging out of helicopters in African war zones to performing general practice in Bunbury, Frederik Pretorius has had a life full of twists and turns.
Arriving in Australia 45 years ago, Dr Pretorius left the unrest of apartheid South Africa with his family, looking for a better life.
Being a passionate diver, Australia was a natural choice for him and he arrived in Brisbane with two toddlers, a few suitcases of clothes and $400 in travellers' cheques.
After staying in Cairns for one year and then another year at Pinjarra, Dr Pretorius and his family eventually decided to settle in Bunbury.
'It was close enough to Perth, but close enough to the southern places, not too big, like Perth, but not too small, like a country town where everybody knows what's in your shopping basket at the supermarket,' he said. Dr Fred Pretorius with his best friend Mapula. Credit: Yousuf Shameel
Soon after settling in Bunbury, he set up a clinic in the Plaza Shopping Centre with a chemist shop close by.
Dr Pretorius said his most proud moment he would pick of his career would be when he was able to detect 50 melanomas in their early stages when he started to do community skin checks after losing a dear friend and partner Dr Rex Chidgzey to melanoma.
'I was already doing quite a lot of skin work, and that reinforced it,' he said.
'His portrait still hangs in our surgery in the skin cancer clinic as a memory to him and passing away from melanoma.
'He was in his 40s, which is very sad. A good doctor and good friend.'
While in Bunbury, Dr Pretorius made the headlines, not for his services to the community, but for his diving expeditions.
'I was diving with a buddy a few kilometres from the Ningaloo shoreline and our boat anchor rope got severed by sharp coral whilst we were in the water,' he said.
'The boat took off in a stiff easterly breeze and was eventually found by a passing Greek freighter somewhere between India and Cocos Islands and taken as salvage.
'My buddy and I got separated but both reached the shore in the dark after a very long swim after having to dump our heavy scuba gear and I drove home to Bunbury with an empty boat trailer, wearing diving goggles with prescription lenses as my proper glasses went with the boat.'
After selling his GP clinic, Dr Pretorius set out to start the Bunbury Skin Cancer Clinic with Dr Gavin Matten from Donnybrook at Forrest Avenue next to Mainline Plumbing.
Soon, they realised they were running out of space, and decided to move into the current skin cancer clinic at South Bunbury.
Now, at the age of 75, Dr Pretorius has decided its time for him to consider retirement and wishes to thank his staff, colleagues, friends and most of all, his patients and Bunbury itself.
'Thank you for your friendship, patience, laughter, compassion and trust over the past four and a half decades and for putting up with my choice of music in the operating theatre,' he said.
As for a piece of wisdom, he said people should 'appreciate your GPs, because they have to deal with everything and be fairly good at many things.'