Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306:reg:20:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01306
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 20 (pt 2/2)
Character Range: 51713–53501

later to acquire its distinctive architectural embellishments of figures of Australian fauna.22

  As MacKenzie also believed that the native Australian mammals were doomed to extinction within a very short time, he began to assemble from 1912 a massive collection of dissected specimens of these animals. When war broke out in 1914, according to his own account, he realised that his collection could be of benefit to the treatment and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. At the instigation of the distinguished Scottish anatomist, Sir Arthur Keith, MacKenzie decided to transfer his vast and unique collection to the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. The material was despatched overseas in 80 tins and eight tanks. MacKenzie himself proceeded to England in 1915, where he remained for approximately three years. During this time, he helped Keith catalogue specimens of war wounds and assisted in the editing and publication of textbooks on surgical anatomy and muscle function.23

  On his return to Melbourne in 1918, MacKenzie was determined  to carry on with his orthopaedic work and with collecting specimens of native Australian mammals.  As there was no space available for him at the University of Melbourne, he purchased an eleven-room house at 612 St Kilda Road and rapidly began to fill it with his dissected specimens. Soon afterwards, in 1920, he obtained at a peppercorn rental from the Victorian government. This was a lease on an 80-acre tract of land at Badger Creek, Healesville, where he established a reserve for, as he put it, 'live specimens'. The reserve is still in existence. MacKenzie formally registered the St Kilda Road property and the Badger Creek reserve under the title of 'The Australian Institute of Anatomical Research'.24