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Fred HollowsPrint Page Print this page

Information Board 3: 15-March-2016
Information Board 3: 15-March-2016

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

The memorial at the grave commemorates ophthalmologist and philanthropist, Professor Fred Hollows (1929 - 1993).

In February 2006, the original gravestone was replaced with a new granite sculpture, commissioned by the Hollows' family, created by Austrian sculptor Andreas Buisman and erected with the generous support of friends, the Bourke Shire Council and local community.

Fred Hollows was 63 when he died on 10 February 1993. On 17 February 1993, after an official state funeral at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, and in accordance with his own wishes, Fred Hollows was laid to rest in Bourke, where the red dirt and mulgas signal the start of the outback, which he loved so much. 

Professor Hollows is highly regarded for his work with Aborigines in the Australian outback. Professor Hollows became caught up in the plight of Aborigines, alarmed by the high incidence of trachoma in aboriginal children. He was instrumental in setting up the Aboriginal Medical centre in Redfern in 1971, and was later founding director of the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program. His forays into the Australian outback with his mobile clinic were legendary. He established an international reputation for his work in Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Vietnam, Latin America and Eritrea. He devoted his career to establishing clinics and raising money to build factories in Third-World countries to make intra-ocular lenses needed to cure patients blinded by cataracts. He was motivated by the fact that 20 million people—80 per cent of them in third world countries---were blind because they had no access to the basic surgical process that implants the lenses.

Location

Address:Gorrell Avenue (Kidman Way), Bourke Historic Cemetery, Bourke, 2840
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -30.101906
Long: 145.936772
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Grave
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Humanitarian
Designer:Andreas Buisman

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Friday 17th February, 2006
Front Inscription

Frederick Cossom Hollows

9. 4. 1929  - 10. 2. 1993

Plaque: 

Fred Hollows
Eye Doctor

The key he used to undo locks was vision for the poor
 

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au