Wally Byrne, who just received the key to a country town for his decades of medical service, was never the studious type in high school.
The sports-mad Sydneysider failed all his exams at the end of year 10 and left to begin a carpentry apprenticeship.
Fourteen years later, he would be up past midnight every evening studying chemistry and mathematics, accumulating the knowledge he needed to enrol in university and become a doctor.
