The development of microvascular surgery in Australia
Introduction
Participants
Beginnings
Developing links with academia and hospital medicine
A bevy of supporters
An ever-widening circle of contributors
Building research capacity
Nurturing relationships
Raising funds for research and development
The microsurgeon and the law
Winning community and corporate support
Leadership
The Institute and its style
Endnotes
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
It's that type of funding that has happened a number of times. There’s the lady who left a lot of money, part of the Coy estate, to microsurgery. We did some investigation, we’ve actually got the photo and named the library the Coy library. What we found was that the lady came to the Hospital doing volunteer work and obviously must have met Bernard or seen his work and made the specific request that her bequest had to go to microsurgery. Who knows why that came about and where it came from, but it’s all that sort of thing over time that shows how important it is to do all this networking. The Evelyn M. Coy prize in surgery, for the top surgical graduate, is also named in her honour.
Laurie Muir: In the 1970s, fundraising from corporations was very big and very real and they quite liked the new charity on the block and they could spot what it was going to do for mankind. That's all changed. Very few corporations support us today and we have to rely on charitable funds, government agencies and people like the TAB, Tattersalls, and the public.
Ann Westmore: Is that because corporations now want to show their shareholders actual benefits from the grants they give?
Laurie Muir: Yes. They get a bit of good will, but not perhaps enough [to justify a big donation]. We worked for a while with the concept that those who were in dangerous industries, getting hands cut off, might donate, such as BHP.
Ken Knight: There was probably ten years of applications before we were finally successful.
Ann Westmore: And does BHP still maintain that [grant]?
Ken Knight: They kept that up for a number of years, stopped in 2003 or thereabouts.
Laurie Muir: We haven't therefore quite found our niche. There is one there I’m sure. I think finding that niche is the work for the next five years. But there’s no substitute for good publicity.
Ann Westmore: It seems the Transport Accident Commission was a big donor to the building. How did that come about?
Laurie Muir: We had Leon [L'Huillier]{86] on the Board, didn’t we?
Geoff Renton: And I think Margaret Jackson[87] was Chairman [of TAC Insurance] and Ron Walker was on our Board. That was the second substantial grant. The first contribution from TAC, whilst Leon L'Huillier was Chairman and CEO, was for $2 million.
Laurie Muir: They weren't involved in giving to the first building. In fact, I don’t think they were in existence in their present form.
Geoff Renton: The total cost was $4.5 million. The land belongs to the Sisters of Charity who have an agreement for the Hospital to manage the site. The term of the lease for the Microsurgery Institute is until 2017.
Laurie Muir: Do Workcover make donations now because we'd be very logical for them?
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Witness to the History of Australian Medicine |  |
© The University of Melbourne 2005-16
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