Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306:reg:61:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 61 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 108034–110885

61   'Report of the Australian Institute of Anatomy July 1st 1933 to June 30th 1934', p. 3; 'Report of the Australian Institute of Anatomy July 1st, 1934 to June 30th, 1935', p. 1; 'The Australian Institute of Anatomy. Annual Report for the Year ending 30th June, 1936', p. 1, CRS A1928, item 695/17; 'Obituary: Charles Vincent MacKay', MJA, 22 August 1953.

Figure 21: Institute of Anatomy, Mildenhall Collection 1901–1948 (National Library of Australia)

Figure 22: Photograph of the Buildings in Acton, 1938 (National Library of Australia 2018)

  While the Institute flourished for much of the 1930s, there were some problems with the building itself. For some time after its completion, the courtyard remained an eyesore, covered with the contractor's litter and construction debris. On the initiative of the Civic Administrator, Charles Daley, unemployment relief workers were employed during 1932 to clean up the area, top-dress and sow it with grass seed, and lay down paths of coarse gravel. This was little more than a temporary measure, however, as visitors to the Institute still had to enter the museums by way of the administration and research wing, rather than from the courtyard, as had originally been intended. The difficulty was not resolved until mid-1936 when, in accordance with the original plans, the paths in the courtyard were cemented.62

  A more disturbing problem was leakage of the roof during heavy rain. MacKenzie first reported on this in March and April 1936, stating that a 'considerable volume' of water had entered both museums during recent rainstorms. To correct the problem, eight additional downpipes were installed. The leakage continued, however, both in the museums and

  in the colonnades surrounding the courtyard. A little later in the year, it was discovered that the malthoid roofing had undergone severe weathering, with the roofing over the colonnade particularly badly blistered and perished. Following further instances of heavy leakage into the museums, repairs were eventually carried out on the roofs in 1938. Some unspecified repairs and renovations were also made to the Director's residence during the same year.63

  The end of the MacKenzie period at the Institute – and of its heyday as the scientific and cultural centre of Canberra – occurred with some abruptness. From April to September 1936, MacKenzie took five months' leave of absence to visit a number of related institutions overseas. Shortly after his return, a 'mental degeneration' that had already been evident for at least two years began to deteriorate rapidly. By the latter half of 1937, Cumpston was forced to inform the Minister for Health, now W.M. Hughes, that MacKenzie was 'mentally quite incapable of any professional work, and … [had] largely to be looked after by somebody else.' MacKenzie resigned in