Who was Fred Hollows?
Fred Hollows was a New Zealand-born Australian eye surgeon who worked to restore sight to people with preventable blindness, especially in Aboriginal communities and developing countries. He died in 1993.
Hollows was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1929. He moved to Australia and became a professor of ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales and head of the eye department at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.
In the 1970s he helped establish the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern and led the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program, which visited hundreds of remote Aboriginal communities to treat eye disease.
Restoring sight around the world
Hollows believed that cataract surgery should be cheap and accessible to everyone. He worked to establish factories in Eritrea and Nepal that could produce low-cost intraocular lenses for cataract operations.
He was named Australian of the Year in 1990. He continued working despite being diagnosed with cancer, and died in Sydney in February 1993.
The Fred Hollows Foundation, founded in 1992, carries on his work and has helped restore sight to millions of people worldwide. His wife, Gabi Hollows, played a key role in founding and running the organization.
Did You Know?
Fred Hollows was given a state funeral and is buried in Bourke, New South Wales.