Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn becomes the seventh Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1932
From Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive
Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn enormously influenced the Medical School, the University of Sydney, and Australian medicine in general. Although he began his medical studies at the University of Adelaide, when that school closed in 1896 he completed his studies at the University of Sydney, graduating MB ChM in 1889 and MD in 1903. That year he undertook his residency at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital which began his 83 year association with that hospital. He was also an Honorary Physician at the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington, and Honorary Pathologist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children and a member of its board and an Honorary Consultant at Prince Henry Hospital. In 1930-31, Blackburn was a founding councillor of the Association of Physicians of Australasia. At the University of Sydney, Sir Charles was appointed lecturer in Clinical Medicine in 1913, a role he continued until 1934. He was Dean of Medicine from 1932 to 1935 and Chancellor of the University from 1941 for twenty-three years when, aged 90, he retired. On his retirement, the Senate appointed him Chancellor Emeritus and his work is commemorated by the Chancellor's Garden.[1]
- Next article in timeline: The Rockefeller New Medical School (the Blackburn Building) opens in 1933