The University of Western Australia

A001704 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Corporate Body created 2002-01-31 human Ailie Smith updated 2026-05-21 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/A001704b.htm corporateBody The University of Western Australia AACR2 1911 Start Place Crawley, Western Australia, Australia Location Crawley, Western Australia Education Science Engineering University Research administration Medicine The University of Western Australia was established in 1911 by an act of the Parliamnet of Western Australia. It opened for students in 1913 with the first degrees conferred at Government House on 29 July 1914. The University is located on the banks of Perth's Swan River. 1910 1910 Operational event - Sir John Winthrop Hackett completes his work as chair of a Royal Commission which recommends that a university be 'established' in Western Australia. 1911 1911 Operational event - The University of Western Australia Act 1911 is passed by the WA State Parliament. 1913 1913 Operational event - Teaching commences in the Irwin Street buildings with 184 students in three founding faculties - Engineering, Science and Arts. 1914 1914 Event - Edward Sydney Simpson is the first student to graduate with a degree from UWA. 29 July 1914 29 July 1914 Operational event - First conferring of degrees in law, science arts, medicine and engineering. Most admitted 'ad eundem gradum' (at the same degree) from Universities elsewhere. 1916 1916 Event - Sir John Winthrop Hackett dies leaving a bequest to the University which eventually provides £425,000 ($35 million in the 2020s) 1919 1919 Operational event - A 999-year lease commenced for UWA's Crawley site. CRC for Asthma (1999 - 2006) Astronomy Australia Limited (2007 - ) CRC for Premium Quality Wool (1993 - 2000) CRC for Broadband Telecommunications and Networking (1993 - 1999) CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity (2001 - 2007) CRC for Welded Structures (1999 - 2006) Australian Telecommunications CRC (1999 - 2006) CRC for Predictive Mineral Discovery (2001 - 2008) CRC for Biological Control of Pest Animals (1999 - 2004) Wilsmore, Norman Thomas Mortimer (1868 - 1940)

Foundation Professor of Chemistry 1913 - 1937; Vice-Chancellor 1924 - 1925

Dakin, William John (John) (1883 - 1950)

Inaugural Professor of Biology 1913 - 1920

Blakey, Othman Frank (Frank) (1897 - 1952)

Professor of Civil Engineering 1947 - 1952; Associate professor c1936 - 1947; Lecturer 1927 - c1936.

Gentilli, Joseph Hefetz (1912 - 2002)

Founded Department of Geography; retired 1977

Weatherburn, Charles Ernest (1884 - 1974)

Foundation Professor of Mathematics 1929 - 1950

Thompson, Roland Dale (1895 - 1950)

Lecturer in Mathematics and Physics 1920 - 1929

Andrews, Cecil Rollo Payton (1870 - 1951)

Pro-Chancellor 1912 - 1929

Woolnough, Walter George (1876 - 1958)

Professor of Geology 1913 - 1919

Groves, David Ian (1942 - )

Professor of Ecomonic Geology 1987 - 2005; Director, ARC Key Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits 1988 - 2005

Waring, Horace (Harry) (1910 - 1980)

Professor of Zoology 1948 - 1975

Balme, Jane Margaret (c. 1957 - )

Professor of Archaeology (later senior Research Fellow), School of Social Sciences

Hilton, Roger Norman (1927 - 2012)

Lecturer (later Senior Lecturer), Department of Botany 1964 - 1987

Robson, Alan David (1945 - 2024)

Professor of Agriculture (Soil Science) 1984 - 2001; Dean, Faculty of Agriculture 1991 - 1992; Hackett Professor of Agriculture 2001 - 2012; Vice Chancellor 2002 - 2012

Dortch, Charlie E. ( - 2014)

Associate Professor 2011 - 2013

Cannon, Jack Richard (1927 - 2014)

Associate Professor, School of Chemistry 1973 - 1992

O'Brien, Brian John (1934 - 2020)

Adjunct Professor of Physics 2009 -

Brown, Timothy Carlisle (Tim) (1953 - )

Professor of Mathematics (Probability and Statistics), 1987 - 1992

Stanley, Neville Fenton (1918 - 1984)

Professor of Microbiology 1956 - 1983; Dean, Faculty of Science 1961 - 1983

Whitfeld, Hubert Edwin (1875 - 1939)

Professor of Mining and Engineering 1913 - 1926; Vice-Chancellor 1925 - 1939

Bowden, Andrew Thomson (1900 - 1968)

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering 1938 - c1939; Associate Professor Mechanical Engineering 1937 - 1944; Lecturer in charge, Mechanical Engineering 1926 - 1937.

Universities Australia (2007 - ) Curnow, David Henry (1921 - 2004)

Professor of Clinical Biochemistry 1968 - 1985

Stanley, Fiona Juliet (1946 - )

Professor of Paediatrics 1990 -

Eugenics Society, The University of Western Australia (1933 - c. 1937) Hancock, William John (1864 - 1931)

Member of the Senate 1915 - 1927

Gale, Gwendoline Fay (Fay) (1932 - 2008)

Vice-Chancellor 1990 - 1997

Whelan, Robert Ford (1922 - 1984)

Vice-Chancellor 1971 - 1977

Hodgkin, Ernest Pease (1908 - 1998)

Lecturer (later Associate Professor), Department of Zoology 1949 - 1973

Allen-Williams, David John Francis (1918 - 2004)

Professor and Founding Chair, Mechanical Engineering Department 1958 - 1984, Emeritus Professor 1984 - 2004.

Watts, Donald Walter (1934 - 2023)

Professor in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry (Personal Chair) 1977 - 1979

Broeze, Franklin Jan Aart (Frank) (1945 - 2001)

Lecturer (later Professor) in history1970 - 2001

Balme, Basil Eric (1923 - 2023)

Associate Professor, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences 1968 - 1988; Dean, Faculty of Science 1979 - 19891; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences 1988 - ; Member of the Senate 1975 - 1978

Marshall, Barry James (1951 - )

Clinical Professor of Microbiology 1999 - 2003

Nicholls, George Edward (1878 - 1953)

Professor of Biology 1921 - 1947

Pate, John Stewart (1932 - 2023)

Professor and Head of Department of Botany 1973 - 2000

Lambers, Johannes Thieo (Hans) (1950 - )

Chair of Plant Ecology, 1997 - 1998; Head of Plant Sciences 1999 - 2002

Millar, Harvey (1971 - )

Professorial Fellow (later Wunthrop Professor), School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences 2005 -

Low, Paul J.

Professor of Chemistry 2013 - ; Head, School of Molecular Sciences 2022 -

Fitzpatrick, Simon Peter (1953 - 2004)

Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Statistics 1991 - 2004

White, Allan Henry (1938 - 2016)

Professor of Chemistry and Crystallography 1999 - 2007; awarded the Chancellor's Medal 2009

Brown, Robert Hallowes (1930 - )

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the Department 1975 - 1980

Stokes, Robert Harold (1918 - 2016)

Reader in Chemistry 1950 - 1955

Bayliss, Noel Stanley (1906 - 1996)

Professor of Chemistry 1938 - 1971

Currie, George Alexander (1896 - 1984)

Hackett Professor of Agriculture 1939 - 1946, Vice Chancellor 1940 - 1952

Silberstein, Josef Philipp Otto (1920 - 2016)

Professor of Pure Mathematics 1966 - 1985

Moir, Reginald John (1918 - 2004)

Professor of Agriculture 1967 - ?1983

Oliver, Ivan Thomas (1929 - )

Professor of Biochemistry 1967 - 1986

Hallam, Sylvia Joy (1927 - 2019)

Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology 1984 - 1989

Blair, David Gerald (1946 - )

Winthrop Professor of Physics 1998 -

Gardner, Charles Austin (1896 - 1970)

Lectured in Botany 1924 - 1962

Blackwell, Jenefer

Director, Genetics and Health Laboratory 2007 -

Cole, Andrew Reginald Howard (Andy) (1924 - 2024)

Dean, Faculty of Science 1975 - 1977; Chairman, School of Chemistry 1978 - 1981; Head of Department of Physical and Organic Chemistry 1971 - 1973 and 1987 - 1989

Simpson, Edward Sydney (1875 - 1939)

Member of the Senate 1921 - 1926

Beazley, Lynda Dent (Lyn) (1944 - )

Professor of Zoology 1994 - 2014

Hyde, Bruce Godfrey (1925 - 2014)

Professor of Chemistry 1977 - 1978

Glover, Joseph John Edmund (John) (1924 - 2020)

Head, Department of Geology 1985 - 1988

Praeger, Cheryl Elisabeth (1948 - )

Professor of Mathematics 1983 - 2009, Winthrop Professor of Mathematics 2009 - 2017; Head of the Department of Mathematics 1992 - 1994; Director, Centre for Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation 2009 - ; Member of Senate 1997 - 2005

Baddeley, Adrian John (1955 - )

Professor of Statistics 1994 - 2010; Head, Department of Mathematics and Statistics 1998 - 2000; Member of Academic Council 1995 - 1998

Underwood, Eric John (1905 - 1980)

Hackett Professor of Agriculture and Director, Institute of Agriculture 1946 - 1970

Paterson, John Waugh (1869 - 1958)

Foundation Hackett Professor of Agriculture 1913 - 1934; Vice-Chancellor 1918 - 1921

Chappill, Jennifer Anne (Jenny) (1959 - 2006)

Lecturer in botany 1991 - 2006; over 6,000 of Chappill's specimens are in the University's Herbarium

Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) (1920 - 2007)

Foundation member

Ronalds, Beverley Frances (1958 - )

Woodside Chair in Oil and Gas Engineering 1995 -

Barber, Michael Newton (1947 - )

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) 1994 - 2002

McComb, Arthur James (1936 - 2017)

Associate Professor, Department of Botany 1977 - 1989; Head of Department 1981 - 1986

Johnstone, Brian Manning (1924 - 2019)

Retired as Professor in Physiology 1992

Main, Albert Russell (Bert) (1919 - 2009)

Professor of Zoology 1967 - 1984

Grieve, Brian John (1907 - 1997)

Head, Department of Botany 1947 - 1957; Professor of Botany 1957 - 1972; Dean, Faculty of Science 1954 - 1955

Shellam, Geoffrey Randolph (1943 - 2015)

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology 1985 - 2015; Co-Director, The Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training 2007 - 2015

Quirk, James Patrick (1924 - 2022)

Foundation Professor of Soil Science and Head, Department of Soil Science and Nutrition (1963-1974); Emeritus Professor in 1975.

Saint, Eric Galton (1918 - 1989)

Foundation Professor of Medicine 1956 - 1968

Hopper, Stephen Donald (1951 - )

Foundation Professor of Plant Conservation Biology 2004 - 2006; foundation Winthrop Professor of Biodiversity 2012 -

Street, Robert (1920 - 2013)

Vice Chancellor, 1978-1986

Figgis, Brian Norman (1930 - 2025)

Professor of Inorganic Chemistry 1969 - 2001

Bowdler, Sandra (1946 - )

Professor of Archaeology 1983 - 2007

Parker, Alan James (Jim) (1933 - 1982)

Senior Lecturer (later Reader) in Organic Chemistry 1962 - 1969

Berndt, Ronald Murray (1916 - 1990)

Inaugural Professor of Anthropology 1963 - 1981

Bottomley, Gerald Andrew (Gerry) (1924 - 2018)

Head, Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry 1979 - 1982

Raston, Colin Llewellyn

Professor of Chemistry 2003 - 2005

Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia (1913 - 2020) Special Research Centre for Advanced Mineral and Materials Processing (SRCAMMP), The University of Western Australia (1991 - c. 1999)

Trove

'The University of Western Australia', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology The University of Western Australia Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Journal Article: Two Innovative Woman at the University of Western Australia: Myra Keep Goldflam, Barbara Two Innovative Woman at the University of Western Australia: Myra Keep 1999 Wisenet : Journal of the Women in Science Enquiry Network 52 Book: The Missing Chapters: Women Staff at the University of Western Australia, 1963-1987 Crawford, Patricia; Tonkinson, Myrna The Missing Chapters: Women Staff at the University of Western Australia, 1963-1987 Perth University of Western Australia 1988 Book: Campus at Crawley: a Narrative and Critical Appreciation of the First Fifty Years of the University of Western Australia Alexander, Fred Campus at Crawley: a Narrative and Critical Appreciation of the First Fifty Years of the University of Western Australia Perth F. W. Cheshire for the University of Western Australia 1963 Book Section: Geology at the University of Western Australia: the difficult years Glover, John Geology at the University of Western Australia: the difficult years Perth Geological Society of Australia (Western Australian Division) 2003 Geological journeys: from artifacts to zircons 132-4 Journal Article: Geochronology in Western Australia De Laeter, J. R. Geochronology in Western Australia 2008 Australian journal of earth sciences 55 6/7 769-75