Person

Cherry, Thomas (1861 - 1945)

Born
27 October 1861
Gisborne, Victoria, Australia
Died
27 May 1945
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Bacteriologist and Agricultural scientist

Summary

Thomas Cherry was a bacteriologist who, after working in the family joinery business for several years, studied medicine at the University of Melbourne. He travelled to the United Kingdom and Europe in1892 and 1984 to further his studies in bacteriology. On returning to Melbourne, he initiated a service for the bacteriological diagnosis for tuberculosis, diphtheria and typhoid. Appointed to the University of Melbourne to teach pathology, he also undertook work for the Victorian Department of Agriculture, particularly related to water quality, liver fluke in sheep and the training of butter factory managers. Between 1905 and 1910 Cherry was Director of the Department, a productive period during which he studied silo construction, pasture improvement, water purification and bee-keeping. However, the Department was structured such that he had no effective authority over the staff and his term ended in controversy. His next appointment, as Professor of Agriculture at the University, ended when his tenure expired and the Government withdrew funding. After service in the Australian Army Medical Corps, Cherry joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research as Cancer Research Fellow and later the University's Veterinary Research Institute. From 1934 his research was sponsored by the Cancer Causation Research Committee.

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Details

Portrait by Aileen Dent presented to the University of Melbourne 1944.

Chronology

1877 - 1884
Career position - Worked in his father's joinery workshop
1889
Education - MB, University of Melbourne
1890
Career position - Senior house surgeon, Melbourne Hospital
1891
Education - Studied pathology and bacteriology, Kings College, London and University of Aberdeen, Scotland
1892
Education - MD, University of Melbourne
1892 - 1893
Career position - Assistant lecturer and demonstrator in pathology, University of Melbourne
1894
Education - MS, University of Melbourne
1894
Education - Studied bacteriology in Europe and the United Kingdom
1895 - 1899
Career position - Provided bacteriological diagnostic service for doctors and hospitals in Melbourne
1900 - 1905
Career position - Lecturer in bacteriology, University of Melbourne
1901 - 1902
Career position - Acting registrar, University of Melbourne
1905 - 1910
Career position - Director, Victorian Department of Agriculture
1907
Career position - President, Section G2 (Agriculture), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1911 - 1916
Career position - Professor of Agriculture, University of Melbourne
1916 - 1918?
Military service - Served with the Australian Army Medical Corps
1921 - 1929
Career position - John Grice Cancer Research Fellow, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Thomas Cherry - Records, 1937, MS 041; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Private hands (Stowell, J.)

  • Thomas Cherry - Records, 1861 - 1945; Private hands (Stowell, J.). Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Book Sections

  • Stowell, Jill, 'Cherry, Thomas (1861-1945), bacteriologist and agricultural scientist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 7 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 633-634. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070642b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • 'Obituary: Dr. Thomas Cherry', Australian Journal of Science, 8 (2-3) (1945), 68. Details
  • Macdonald, Colin, 'Thomas Cherry', Medical Journal of Australia, 1945 (2) (1945), 129-31. Details

Resources

See also

  • Caro, D. E.; Martin, R. L., 'Leslie Harold Martin 1900-1983', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 97-107. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710097. Details
  • Fenner, Frank ed., History of Microbiology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Microbiology, 1990), 624 pp. Details

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 1 February 2024

EOAS ID: biogs/P000927b.htm

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