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Sir Anthony Colling Brownless

KCMG, FRCS, LSA, MD, LLD (1852 - 1897)

Educator and Physician

Biographical detailsBBiographical details

Brownless was born in Kent, England on 19th January 1817 and died in Melbourne on 3rd of December 1897.
As a child he was taught at home by a private tutor.  He suffered a horse riding accident as a teenager, injurying his knee, a condition which was to trouble him through out his life.

He decided on a career in medicine, much to the disappointment of his family who were keen on his embarking on a career with the Church.  In 1833, at the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the surgeon, Charles Wilks and in 1836 enrolled as a medical student at St Bartholemew's Hospital from which he graduated as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England 1841. In June of that year he was appointed Licentiate of the Society of Apothearies.

Brownless practised as a surgeon in London and later commenced specialist studies in anatomy and pathology in Liege, in 1847 being awarded the higher Doctorate of medicine from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
One of his biographers, Professor Kenneth Russell, claimed that chronic ill health saw him decide to come to Australia in 1852.
 

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Career HighlightsCareer Highlights:

  • In England held various appointments and worked in private practice
  • On arrival to Australia in 1853 he was appointed as physician to the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum
  • In 1854 was appointed physician Melbourne Hospital and from 1866 as consulting physician
  • On the 15th June 1855 appointed to the University of Melbourne Council due to his passion for teaching and his background in classics, a position he held untill 1887
  • On the 31st May 1887 was appointed Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, a position he held until 1897
  • Throughout his career worked in private practice
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Medical School:

Brownless was renowned for his enthusiasm and determination in the establishment of the University of Melbourne Medical School,which was officially opened in 1862.  He faced some opposition to his belief that the medical school should be an integral part of the University.
It was reported that:
.......several of the Council were shocked at the proposal to allow the dissecting room to come between the wind and their corporate nobility, and so it was put as far off as possible......
John Pearn, A Doctor in the Garden: nomen medici in botanics: Australian flora and the world of medicine,  Herston, Qld.: Amphion Press, 2001, pp.107.
 

Sir Anthony Colling Brownless is commemorated by the Brownless BioMedical Library at the University of Melbourne.  His personal papers are held in the University of Melbourne Archives.

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Sir Anthony Colling Brownless
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