And now, the well-loved specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology will retire on June 30. 

Dr Halloway has been practising in Bathurst since January 1994, having spent the previous 14 years in Dubbo. 

He worked from rooms in Russell Street for 10 years and at Bathurst and Lithgow hospitals and, until recently, at Mudgee.

Dr Halloway said he and his wife Denny came to Bathurst because of the availability of schools for their 11 children. 

Two were born in Sydney, two in Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, two in Newcastle and five in Dubbo. 

Mrs Halloway grew up in Bathurst and, for the past seven to eight years, has worked in the practice alongside her husband. Mrs Halloway will also be retiring.

“She was my practice manager from the year dot,” Dr Halloway said. 

“We are already booked up to look after our 11 grandchildren,” he said with a smile.

The couple have grandchildren in Bathurst, Orange, the Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie and Wollongong so they expect to do some travelling visiting them all.

“Our retirement will have a family focus, although I would also like to do some form of further study,” Dr Halloway said. “I’m interested in teaching, but I will wait to see if I am approached. I don’t want to go chasing it.”

The Halloways have recently moved into Bathurst from their farm at Yetholme. 

“I’m really looking forward to meeting some old colleagues who have retired,” Dr Halloway said. “To be happy you have to look beyond your work. You are not your work.”

Dr Ian Fulcher, who has the same specialty, will be taking over the practice. He will also be travelling to Lithgow.

Born in Sydney on April 26, 1948, Chris Halloway was the youngest of three boys. 

His mum worked as a secretary and his dad was a career Army man who joined up in 1932. He saw service in Tobruk during World War 2 and retired in 1962. 

Dr Halloway began his first year medicine studies at the University of NSW in 1967 when the school’s first graduates had just completed their six-year course. 

“I spent my elective term in Bourke in 1971. My introduction to indigenous health started here and has remained an enduring impact on my understanding of what it is to be a health professional,” he said. 

“During this time, I had Dr Frank Handcock as one of my mentors and was fortunate enough to travel to Bourke, Walgett and Enngonia with the redoubtable Professor Fred Hollows. I graduated from sixth year med at the end of 1972.” 

Dr Halloway worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital in 1973 and the Royal Newcastle Hospital in 1974.

From July 1975 to June 1977, he worked at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth in the UK.

He said it was common in those days to work in the UK if you were planning to specialise.

“As senior registrar there I did the same number of operations in one year as I did in seven as a registrar in Australia,” he said.

“This was very helpful in being able to come out to rural areas, where there was not the kind of network there is now. You did the lot yourself.” 

Another key appointment came when he became a registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at the NSW Royal Hospital for Women at Paddington in 1977. 

A really enjoyable period in his career came in 2009 when he became the Leader in the Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Sydney School of Medicine, Notre Dame University.

“I really liked the philosophy they had in regard to teaching,” he said.

“I’ve loved obstetrics and gynaecology since I was a student. I had a significant mentor at the Royal Women’s Hospital who impressed on me what a nice specialty it would be. I was also quite taken with psychiatry.”

He said he has always loved practising medicine in regional areas.

“The wonderful part is that you and your family grow with the community. In Sydney I feel you are cut off from others,” Dr Halloway said.

“Over time I have become more aware there is a certain way of looking at things that is faith-based, and that dovetails nicely with social justice issues.

“We’ve got to be thinking of other people and that is where the challenge will lie in medicine.

“If you love your wallet above all else, you are not going anywhere.”