The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Ahearne, Surgeon-Major Joseph
Ahearne, Surgeon-Major Joseph, L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S., is a native of Ireland, and was admitted L.R.C.S. (Ireland) in 1871, and L.R.C.P. (London) in 1878. He emigrated to Queensland, and was appointed Government Medical Officer at Townsville in Nov. 1879. He was appointed Surgeon-Major and Principal Medical Officer of the defence force for the Northern District in Nov. 1886, and Health Officer at Townsville on Nov. 25th, 1886. In that year he visited England as the representative of the North Queensland Separation League; and much of the progress which has since attended the operations of the League is to be ascribed to the impetus given to it by Dr. Ahearne's exertions. Dr. Ahearne married Miss Cunningham, the daughter of Edward Cunningham, a Queensland squatter.