Paul Hamilton Hume White (26 February 1910 — 21 December 1992) was an Australian missionary, evangelist, radio program host and author.
White was born in Bowral, New South Wales. After studying medicine at the University of Sydney, White married Mary Bellingham and he and his wife travelled to Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) as Church Missionary Society missionaries in 1938, where White established a hospital at Mvumi Mission which soon replaced Kilimatinde as the main medical centre of the CMS mission in Tanganyika.
White succeeded Dr Cyril Wallace as the medical secretary of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika in 1939. He wrote his first book, Doctor of Tanganyika, which is factual and contains many photographs taken by White himself, to illustrate how missionary work was carried out under such primitive settings, with the local Chigogo people. In 1941 after only two years in missionary work White had to return to Australia due to his wife's illness.On the way home, he developed a boil in, to use his own words, 'a place which caused me to take a pillow, cut a hole in it, and sit very carefully (!)' Unable to take part in the shipboard entertainment he started to write. From this came Jungle Doctor, the first in the series that became an icon of Christian Literature.
Following his return to Australia, White went on to write the rest of his Jungle Doctor books which have been translated into more than 80 languages. At the same time he began his Jungle Doctor radio program, which continued for 25 years. His books are based in Africa and depict African folklore and missionary adventure. Many of White's stories include moral teaching. The Jungle Doctor series consists of 29 books, including four co-authored with David Britten. They tell of surgical operations in the wild using the most basic equipment and the very colourful people of Africa, including his friend Daudi (David) Matama, and quite often striking against the village witchdoctors who relied on black magic to gain power. Several stories are tales of good winning against evil.
Although seeming to be an account of his life, the famous books are mostly fictitious, although they incorporate much of his own and others experiences as well as many of the people of all races he encountered in his missionary work. Original editions were illustrated by Graham Wade, who also produced Jungle Doctor comic strips. White then authored six 'Fable' books, in the form of the traditional African 'round the fire' storytelling, incorporating Christian moral lessons. They are Jungle Doctor's Fables, Jungle Doctor's Tug of War, Jungle Doctor's Monkey Tales, Jungle Doctor's Hippo Happenings, Jungle Doctor's Rhino Rumblings and Jungle Doctor Meets Mongoose.
As well as pioneering Christian media in the form of both radio and television in Australia, White was active in student evangelism and is credited with revitalising evangelical Christian student groups in Australia after World War II. White also continued to practice medicine on a part-time basis right up until his death.