Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306:reg:56:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 56 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 100429–103324

56   'Report of the Director. Australian Institute of Anatomy. 1st July, 1931-30th June, 1932', pp. 3-4; and 'Report of the Australian Institute of Anatomy July 1st 1933 to June 30th 1934', p. 2, CRS A1928, item 695/17.

  From the time of its opening, the Institute also rapidly became a focus for the scientific, cultural and educational life of the national capital. The lecture theatre was extensively used for lectures on such diverse subjects as archaeology, architecture, art, economics, history, international affairs, politics, psychology, religion and veterinary science. From about mid-1930, the Canberra University College conducted its classes in the Institute until lack of space forced it to transfer them to the Hotel Acton in May 1935. Australia's Third Annual Cancer Conference was held in the building in March 1932 and thereafter succeeding conferences were held there each year during the 1930s. The Royal Society of Australia, of which MacKenzie was the second president, conducted its regular monthly meetings in the building from 1932 onward. From the early 1930s, the Institute was the venue for readings and performances by the Canberra Repertory Society and by Canberra's Arts and Literature Society. These continued until 1944 when Cumpston put a stop to them on the grounds that they were not fitting activities to be held in a scientific institution.57

  A series of endowed lectures contributed to the intellectual life of the Institute. These were, in the order in which they were established:

   May 1928: The Halford Oration. An annual lecture, endowed by the Halford family, to honour the memory of the late Professor G.B. Halford who held the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Melbourne from 1862 to 1907;

   August 1928: The Anne MacKenzie Oration. An annual lecture dealing with preventive medicine and the history of human development, endowed by Professor Sir Colin MacKenzie58
   in honour of his mother;

   July 1930: The Kendall Lecture. A triennial lecture on veterinary science, endowed by the Kendall family in honour of Dr W.T. Kendall, one of the founders of this discipline in Australia;

   January 1932: The George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology. An annual lecture endowed by the Chinese community in Australia and aimed at stimulating
   Australian interest in China;

   May 1933: The Charles MacKay Lecture. An annual lecture on the history of medicine, endowed by Miss C. MacKenzie in memory of her grandfather.59

  Further donations and acquisitions of material steadily expanded the scope and enhanced the standing of the Institute. The new material acquired included:

   By 1930: the Burrell Collection, showing all stages in the life cycle of the platypus.

   By 1930: a collection of Aboriginal skeletal material from southern Victoria and the Murray River, presented by Murray Black of Gippsland. In