Dr. Bill Holley was recognised as then G.P. King of West Wallsend, where he practiced for over 40 years. born in Ballarat, Vie., in 1913, he did his early schooling in Sydney [Cleveland St] then Sydney High, was told he should become a doctor and after some struggles completed his medical course spent most of the war in the RAAF- did more training at crown St hospital, and after some locums all round the Hunter Valley, settled in "Westy" and stayed there for the rest of his practicing lifetime.

He became a legend there because he made it quite clear that he was the boss, and his patients thought the world of him-he was a straight talking, no nonsense GP, who spoke the language of the miners and the battlers, initially looked after the whole family for 1 shilling and eleven pence per fortnight] and looked after them when they were admitted to Wallsend hospital, in the early days did about 90 confinements per year, did a week on call at the hospital each month[before the specialists took over] took on the bureaucrats.

He had enormous experience in caring for injured miners in the old days of the pits, and his memories are a rare insight into a world that is gone for ever. He was one of a kind, and is also notable for having 2 sons who followed him into medicine- and who practice in this city.