Fred's Ophthalmology Career

Professor Fred Hollows was a well-known ophthalmologist who believed in equal eye care for all. Fred’s medical career began in Dunedin, New Zealand where he completed his Bachelor of Medicine degree at the University of Otago after finishing his Bachelor of Arts at the Victoria University of Wellington.

Cover photo: Michael Amendolia
Caption: Professor Fred Hollows anaesthetises the eye of a patient being prepared for cataract surgery, Hanoi Vietnam, 1992.

Fred’s medical career began in New Zealand, and his pursuit of knowledge on eye health took him to the UK. The completion of his ophthalmology fellowship brought him to Australia, where he settled and went on to achieve extraordinary feats for local communities, as well as for people in need of quality eye care all over the world.

Below is an account of Fred’s medical career.

Auckland - 1957

As part of his medical training, Fred did his first residency at the Auckland Public Hospital assisting surgeons with general surgery.

Here, Fred’s senior surgical tutor, Harry England, told him that he was “the house surgeon now”.

Dr England went on to say: “I do a ward round at half-past-seven three times a week, and you’ve got an easy job. All you have to do is know all about these patients every time I show up and if I ring in-between times.”

Fred recalled that there were two wards with 30 female and 30 male patients. It was a lot of hard work with constant comings and goings, and complications to add to the mix. But Fred was never afraid of hard work, and he remembered that time as being “very good work, good training.”

During this time, Fred also assisted doctors perform eye surgery.

Tauranga - 1958

The next stop on Fred’s medical journey was Tauranga Public Hospital. It was here that his interest in ophthalmology really piqued, while assisting an eye surgeon on a regular basis.

Fred claimed it was the visit of Sir Garfield Todd – a famous New Zealander who was the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) from 1953 to 1958 – that pushed him towards ophthalmology.

Fred’s father knew Sir Garfield personally, and Fred asked him to set up a meeting. Fred was interested in practicing medicine in Africa as he had read that there was a need for properly run clinics, free from political or church influence.

Fred had also found out from an acquaintance that in order to be of any use in Africa, it was important to know cataract surgery because of the sheer volume of blindness caused by this eye condition.

The meeting with Sir Garfield did not go well – when the conversation took a political turn, Fred suggested that Sir Garfield’s political party should work in collaboration with the African National Congress, which brought the conversation to a stop before Fred could learn more about the eye health landscape of the region.

Despite that setback, Fred’s interest in eye health (and Africa) remained. He continued his work, shadowing the eye surgeon in Tauranga and learning about successful cataract removal as part of his daily work. This was before technological advances or breakthroughs such as laser surgery and lens implants were even an option.

Fred wasn’t sure why ophthalmology was of such interest to him: “Ophthalmology wasn’t a very prestigious branch of medicine, so it wasn’t ambition or that sort. A romantic idea of being useful in Africa may have lain behind it somewhere.”

Wellington - 1959

Once Fred had made up his mind that eye surgery was to be his vocation, he took up a position at Wellington Hospital as an ophthalmologic registrar. Wellington had the biggest hospital in New Zealand so he was kept pretty busy.

While there, Fred had the chance to use a retinal camera - a Zeiss Nordenson camera that doctors used to photograph the eyes of people with hypertension. This was the first of its kind and had been imported into New Zealand.

When the apparatus arrived, Fred ripped the crate apart and set it up, and Fred’s encounter with the country’s first retinal photography service made him realise that he still had a lot to learn.

At that time, there was no post-graduate training available in New Zealand so Fred decided to go to the UK to complete a Diploma of Ophthalmology.

Back to Auckland - 1960

In order to travel to the UK and pursue ophthalmology, Fred needed to earn money. He did this by taking a position as a general practitioner for a year at the practice of Dr Robert Bruce in Auckland.

After his year was up and Fred had gained more medical experience, and had enough money to pursue further studies, he made his way to England.

The UK Years - 1961 to 1964

Fred travelled to England to study at the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology (Moorfields Eye Hospital).

He was an ophthalmic registrar at the Medical Research Council Epidemiological Unit in Cardiff. It was here that he conducted pioneering research on the epidemiology of glaucoma in mining towns.

He was made a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1964.

Australia - 1965 onwards

Fred was appointed as an associate professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales.

He was also made the chairman of ophthalmology at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, Sydney.

While at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Fred treated many patients, with many of them (and their family members) remembering him as a gruff yet lovable doctor to this day.

It was here that Fred encountered two senior Aboriginal men from Wattie Creek that he treated with diseases that were rare in an industrialised country like Australia. Surprised by the ailments troubling both men, he visited their camp in the Northern Territory to examine the eyes of people in that Indigenous community.

He saw widespread poor eye health in almost everyone he encountered, be it small children or the elderly. Both men and women were suffering from painful trachoma that could lead to blindness.

It was this together with his other work in Aboriginal communities that saw Fred’s humanitarian streak leap to the fore, fuelling the next chapter of his work, which was Fred’s work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Known as the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program, this project was led by Fred, Aboriginal community leaders, and a team of eye health specialists, including Gabi Hollows. The team visited 465 Indigenous communities, with the following goals in mind:

Eliminate trachoma in Indigenous communities
Raise eye health awareness in Indigenous communities
Screen, diagnose and treat eye diseases in remote areas
Establish ongoing eye care programs and training in rural Australia

Over the course of the next two years, the team:

Screened more than 100,000 people in 465 communities
Performed 1,000 operations
Treated 27,000 people for trachoma
Delivered 1,000 pairs of individually-prescribed glasses

Our current Indigenous Australia Program was established more than 20 years ago and is run by a dedicated team of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous staff who work to improve access to eye health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across Australia.

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