The return to Coree: the surgical connection.

Samuel Wilson purchased Coree in 1865. In 1874 he donated 30000 pound sterling to Melbourne University to build the Wilson Hall, used for ceremonial occasions including medical graduation. Samuel McCaughey purchased Coree in 1881. In 1919 he left large bequests used by Sydney University to found the first Chair of Surgery. This was held by Frances Percival Sandes from 1921 to 1928. David McCaughey died of general peritonitis at Coree in 1899, his son Samuel married Una McKellar who was Thomas Dunhill's step-daughter. Thomas Dunhill, pioneer thyroid surgeon, gave the hand of his stepgranddaughter, Unity McCaughey, to Murray Pheils in London in 1941. Roy McCaughey created the McCaughey Institute at Coree in 1945 in memory of his nephew Michael McCaughey who was killed in action in New Guinea. Pioneering work in ovum transfer and in vitro fertilization in sheep was carried out at Coree by Neil Moore from 1959 to 1971. Roy McCaughey left a bequest to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1972, this was used to endow the Sir Roy McCaughey Scholarship in 1995.