Fred Hollows

Frederick Bossom (Fred) Hollows, AC (April 9 1929 – February 11 1993)  was an ophthalmologist who became known for his work in restoring eyesight for countless thousands of people in Australia and many other countries. It has been estimated that more than one million people in the world can see today because of initiatives instigated by Hollows.. The most notable example is The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Early life
Fred Hollows was one of four children, his brothers being Colin, John and James. All were born in Dunedin, New Zealand, to Joseph and Clarice (Marshall) Hollows. Joseph Hollows was a train driver. The family lived in Dunedin for the first seven years of his life. He had one year of formal primary schooling at North East Valley Primary School and began attending Palmerston North Boys' High School when he was 13, where he joined several clubs.

Hollows received his BA degree from Victoria University in Wellington. After a short time in a seminary, Hollows decided against a life in the clergy, and instead enrolled at Otago Medical School. While living in Dunedin he was an active member of the New Zealand Alpine Club and made several first ascents of mountains in the Mount Aspiring region of Central Otago.

During the Cold War, Hollows became a member of the Communist Party of New Zealand, and later left the party during the 1960s.

He did post-graduate work in Wales before moving to Australia in 1965 where he became associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. From 1965-1992 he chaired the ophthalmology division overseeing the teaching departments at the University of New South Wales, and the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry hospitals.

Hollows was married twice: in 1958 to Mary Skiller, who died in 1975, and in 1980 to Gabi O’Sullivan.

Work
Early in the 1970s, Hollows visited isolated New South Wales towns and stations and Aboriginal communities. He became especially concerned with the high number of Aborigines who had eye disorders, particularly trachoma. In 1971, with Mum (Shirl) Smith and others, he set up the Aboriginal Medical Service in suburban Redfern in Sydney, and was subsequently responsible for the establishment of medical services for Aboriginal People throughout Australia. Hollows himself spent three years visiting Aboriginal communities to provide eye care and carry out a survey of eye defects. More than 460 Aboriginal communities were visited, and 62,000 Aboriginal People were examined, leading to 27,000 being treated for trachoma and 1000 operations being carried out.

Hollows received an Advance Australia Award in 1981, but was appalled at what he called blatant government disinterest in eye care for Aboriginal people, so much so that he refused to accept the Order of Australia in 1985. Nonetheless, he became an Australian citizen in 1989. His visits to Nepal in 1985, Eritrea in 1987, and Vietnam in 1991 resulted in training programs to train local technicians to perform eye surgery. Hollows organized intraocular lens (IOL) laboratories in Eritrea and Nepal to manufacture and provide lenses at cost (about $10 each). Both laboratories started production after his death, in 1993. He was given a Human Rights Medal and was named Australian of the Year in 1990. He received another Advance Australia Award, for medicine and overseas aid, was named Humanist of the Year, and received honorary citizenship in Eritrea in 1991. Hollows was a consultant to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and received a number of civic and scholarly awards. In 1992 The Fred Hollows Foundation was established to provide eye care for the underprivileged and poor, and to improve the health of indigenous Australians.

Criticism
Not everyone in the Australian community regarded Hollows as a hero. Most notably, he antagonised a vocal section of the homosexual community with his comments on the Government’s national AIDS strategy. The controversy unfolded in March 1992, when Hollows spoke at the Alice Springs National Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Conference. His approach to this topic was straight to the point. Hollows argued that some areas of the AIDS campaign were being inadequately dealt with. According to The Australian’s Martin Thomas, Hollows stated that some homosexuals were “recklessly spreading the virus”. Therefore, the safe sex campaign was an inadequate way of dealing with the issue. To contain the disease, Hollows argued that promiscuity needed to be addressed. Hollows observed the spread of AIDS in contemporary African communities and he was concerned that AIDS would spread as vehemently through Aboriginal communities. Clearly Hollows infuriated some sections of the community with his comments, but his participation apparently did not cause widespread condemnation.

Death
Hollows died in Sydney in 1993 at the age of 64. The cause of his death was metastatic renal cancer primarily affecting his lungs and brain. He had been diagnosed with the disease six years earlier. Upon his death the Chief Minister of the ACT, Rosemary Follett, described Hollows to her parliamentary colleagues as "an egalitarian and a self-named anarcho-syndicalist who wanted to see an end to the economic disparity which exists between the First and Third Worlds and who believed in no power higher than the best expressions of the human spirit found in personal and social relationships."

Hollows was given a state funeral service at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, and was interred in Bourke, where he had worked in the early 1970s. He was survived by his wife, and children Tanya, Ben, Cam, Emma, Anna-Louise, Ruth and Rosa.