(1885-1974)
Peter
MacCallum left school in Christchurch, New Zealand, at the age of 12
to work in an ironmonger's store. Australia is fortunate that, as J
S Guest tells us in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, 'His health
suffered and, on medical advice, he resumed his schooling'.
After working his passage to Britain as a coal-trimmer, MacCallum obtained
first-class honours in most subjects in his medical course at Edinburgh
University and a double Blue for athletics and rugby. He served with
distinction in World War I, winning the Military Cross, and was twice
mentioned in dispatches, before being gassed and evacuated to England.
He married in 1919 and returned with his wife, who lectured in Botany,
to lecture in Pathology in Edinburgh.
In 1924 he was offered Chairs in Johannesburg and Melbourne and accepted
the latter. His arrival signalled a new direction for the life sciences
in Melbourne, where the Professors of Pathology, Anatomy and Physiology
had occupied their positions for several decades. MacCallum was more
distinguished for his administrative talents than for research, but
in fostering such people as F L Apperley. E S J King and R D 'Pansy'
Wright, he created an exceptional research environment. He was President
of the University Sports Union and Chairman of the Grounds Committee.
During World War II, he raised and commanded the Medical Wing of the
Melbourne University Rifles; afterwards he chaired the Committee for
Post-war Reconstruction assisting ex-Service personnel wishing to undertake
University study.
From 1946 to 1963 MacCallum chaired the Executive Committee of the
Anti-Cancer Council. In 1949 he was one of those instrumental in the
establishment of the Victorian Cancer Institute and in 1950 its outpatient
sections were named the Peter MacCallum Clinic. The 'Peter Mac' housed
Australia's first training school for radiotherapists and is a world
leader in cancer treatment and research.
The MacCallum family lived in the University grounds for many years,
and Monica MacCallum, Peter's daughter, taught for many years in the
Department of History and Philosophy of Science, specialising in the
study of Charles Darwin.
