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| 1. | Professor Janet McCalman PhD FAHA (b.1948), Director of the Johnstone-Need Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, was the driving force behind the development of the Witness to the History of Australian Medicine seminar program. Her contributions to the history of medicine include Sex and Suffering: Women's Health and a Women's Hospital, published by Melbourne University Press in 1998. - Personal communication, Janet McCalman to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 74]
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| 2. | Associate Professor Struan Keith Sutherland AO, MB BS MD DSc FRACP FRCPA FACTM (1936-2002) was born in Sydney and spent his childhood in Bendigo. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1960 after which, he spent several years in the Navy and served as a locum in the Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, where he was mentored by Dr (later Sir) Ian Wood. His career as a physician, scientist, teacher and author flourished after 1966 when he joined the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. For the best part of three decades, he played research and advocacy roles that led to the publication of over 300 reports and papers and books such as Australian Animal Toxins (first published 1983) and Venomous Creatures of Australia (1994). These works helped bolster support for research on animal venoms at the clinical and more fundamental scientific levels. Sutherland was awarded the Australian Medical Association Prize for Medical Research (1977), the James Cook Medal from the Royal Society of NSW (1984), the Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Tropical Medicine of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (1997) and the Distinguished Fellow Medal of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia (1999). He was committed to lessening the impact of poisonous creatures throughout the world and was a consultant on toxins for the World Health Organisation. In 1994 he was appointed a University of Melbourne Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Foundation Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit, retiring in 1999. He wrote his autobiography, A Venomous Life (Hyland House, 1998), while suffering from a degenerative brain disease that eventually killed him in 2002. He was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) posthumously. - Ken Winkel and James A. Angus, ‘In Memoriam; Vale Associate Professor Struan Keith Sutherland', Annual Report of the University of Melbourne Department of Pharmacology, 2001, 5, p.15 and Tibballs J, ‘Struan Sutherland – Doyen of envenomation in Australia', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.860-871. [Return to page 74]
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| 3. | Dr Kenneth Daniel (‘Ken') Winkel MB BS BMedSci PhD FACTM (b.1967) undertook training in medicine and medical science (graduating 1991) at the University of Queensland before gaining a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) postgraduate research scholarship in 1993. He undertook research into immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and completed his PhD in 2000 on the subject ‘Dendritic cells and the control of CD8+ Tcell responses'. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit in mid-1996 and Director in 1999 when Struan Sutherland retired. The Unit is involved in envenomation research in the Asia-Pacific region. He also advises CSL on venoms and envenomation, is part of a team providing 24-hour emergency medical advice Australia-wide on envenomation, and teaches medical and science students/graduates. - Personal communication, Ken Winkel to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 74]
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| 4. | Associate Professor James Tibballs MB BS BMedSci(Hons) MD MBA MEd MHth&MedLaw FFARACS FANZCA FFICANZCA FACTM FJFICM embarked on a career that combined research with clinical medicine when he undertook a Bachelor of Medical Science degree with honours (1970) during his medical training at Monash University (1973). He later trained as a specialist in intensive care, anaesthesia, envenomation and resuscitation, and gained a Melbourne MD in 1998 for a thesis on ‘Cardiovascular, coagulation and haematological effects of brown snake and tiger snake venoms'. He was appointed Specialist Physician in the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne in 1985 and Principal Fellow at the Australian Venom Research Unit in 1999. As well as co-authoring Australian Animal Toxins (second edition), he has contributed more than a hundred articles to the medical literature, many of them on venom-related topics. - Personal communication, James Tibballs to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 74]
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| 5. | Sutherland, S.K. and Tibballs, J., Australian Animal Toxins, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001.
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| 6. | Professor Malcolm McDougal Fisher MB BS FFARACS MD FANZCA FFICANZCA FRCA graduated in medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand (1969), moving to South Australia in 1976. He was a Specialist Anaesthetist at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, 1977-80. He established himself as a leading clinician in the management of Funnel-web spider envenomation at this time by attempting to counteract each phase of the syndrome affecting victims before it became entrenched. He was Director of Intensive Care at the Royal North Shore Hospital, 1981-92, and used the first batch of Funnel-web antivenom on 31 January 1981 to treat a 49 year-old Sydney man who developed severe envenomation after a bite to his right foot. The patient recovered uneventfully. He was appointed a Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney in 1992. - Struan Sutherland, A Venomous Life, Hyland House, 1998 and Medical Directory of Australia 2003. [Return to page 74]
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| 7. | In 1916 the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) was established at Parkville, Victoria, to ensure that Australia retained the capacity to produce essential biological substances, a lack of which could increase its vulnerability to disease during times of isolation, particularly during war time. It replaced the Commonwealth Vaccine Depot which opened in the same place five years earlier. In its first few decades CSL made vaccines and other health products such as insulin for the treatment of diabetes, penicillin, and tiger snake antivenom. It also pioneered the use of human blood products. In 1961, it was replaced by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission and in 1990 by CSL Limited. The latter was privatised in 1994. For on-line information see http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/asaw/biogs/A000214b.htm
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| 8. | The newly-established Department of Immunology Research was the smallest research department at CSL at the time. Over the 14 years that Sutherland headed the Department, most of the work involved ‘non-venomous' research. During this time, the Department was responsible for almost half of the scientific papers published annually by CSL staff. It was officially closed in 1981 after disputes between CSL administration and Sutherland. He subsequently headed the CSL Venom Laboratory until 1994. - See Struan Sutherland, A Venomous Life, Hyland House, 1998. [Return to page 74]
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| 9. | From 1957 to 1961 at CSL, new insights into the funnel-web spider venom were gleaned through the efforts of Dr Saul Wiener MB BS (Melb 1947), PhD (Melb 1952) MD (Melb 1960) FRACP and his collaborators though they were not able to find either an antivenom (formerly commonly referred to as antivenene) or a drug that would neutralise the venom. See Wiener S., ‘The Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus) I. Collection of venom and its toxicity in animals', Medical Journal of Australia, 1957, II, pp. 377-382 and Wiener S., ‘The Sydney Funnel-Web Spider (Atrax robustus) II. Venom yield and other characteristics of spider in captivity', Medical Journal of Australia, 1959, II, pp. 679-682. Wiener did some outstanding research after joining CSL in the mid-1950s including work which resulted in a red-back spider antivenom, released in 1956, and the world's first marine antivenom, against stone fish, in 1959. See Saul Wiener, ‘Red Back Spider Bite treated with Antivenene', Medical Journal of Australia, I, 1956, p.858 and ‘Production and Assay of Stone Fish Antivenene', Medical Journal of Australia, II, 1959, pp.715-719. - Struan Sutherland, A Venomous Life, and Winkel KD, Mirtschin P. and Pearn J., ‘Twentieth century toxinology and antivenom development in Australia', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.738-754. In 1964, two other CSL workers, biochemists Merle Gilbo and Norman Coles, published details of their isolation of what was considered to be the main toxin in Funnel-web venom. Prior to these efforts, Dr Charles Halliley Kellaway MC, MD MS FRCP FRACP FRS (1889-1952), Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, 1923-44, conducted research on the venom, starting in 1934. He was unable to demonstrate its toxicity in common laboratory animals. At the end of the war, he was appointed Director-in-Chief of the Wellcome Research Institute, London. - Personal communication, Saul Wiener to Ann Westmore; Struan Sutherland, A Venomous Life; Sutherland S. and Tibballs J., ‘Historical Background', Australian Animal Toxins, p. 3; Winkel KD, Mirtschin P and Pearn J, ‘Twentieth century toxinology and antivenom development in Australia', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.738-754; Charles H. Kellaway, ‘A note on the venom of the Sydney Funnel web spider Atrax robustus', Medical Journal of Australia, I, 1934, pp. 678-679; P. G. Hobbins and K. D. Winkel, ‘ “I cannot praise too highly his untiring devotion to duty” – the forgotten successes and sacrifices of Charles Kellaway', Medical Journal of Australia, 2007, 187, 11/12. [Return to page 74]
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| 10. | See Karlsson E., Eaker D., Ryden L., ‘Purification of a presynaptic neurotoxin from the venom of the Australian tiger snake, Notechis scutatus scutatus', Toxicon, 1972, 10, pp. 405-413 and Harris J.B., Karlsson E., Thesleff S., ‘Effects of an isolated toxin from the Australian tiger snake (Notechis scutatus scutatus) venom at the mammalian neuromuscular junction', British Journal of Pharmacology, 1973, 47, pp.141-146.
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| 11. | See Coulter AR, Sutherland SK, Broad AJ, ‘Assay of snake venoms in tissue fluids', Journal of Immunological Methods, 1974, 4, pp.297-300 and Sutherland SK, Coulter AR, Broad AJ, Hilton JMN, Lane LHD, ‘Human snake bite victims: The successful detection of circulating snake venom by radioimmunoassay', Medical Journal of Australia, 1975, I, pp.27-29.
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| 12. | Coulter AR, Broad AJ, Sutherland SK, ‘Isolation and properties of a high molecular weight neurotoxin from the Eastern Brown snake (Pseudonaja textiles)', in Neurotoxins, fundamental and clinical advances, Chubb IW and Geffen LB (Eds), Adelaide University Union Press, 1979, p.260.
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| 13. | Sutherland SK, ‘Venomous Australian creatures: The action of their toxins and the care of the envenomated patient', Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 1974, 2, pp. 316-328 and Sutherland SK, ‘Treatment of snake bite in Australia', Medical Journal of Australia, 1975, I, pp.30-32.
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| 14. | Sutherland SK, ‘Serum reactions. An analysis of commercial antivenoms and the possible role of anticomplementary activity in de-novo reactions to antivenoms and antitoxins', Medical Journal of Australia, 1977, I, pp.613-615 and Sutherland SK, Lovering KE, ‘Antivenoms: Use and adverse reactions over a 12-month period in Australia and Papua New Guinea', Medical Journal of Australia, 1979, I, pp.893-898.
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| 15. | Sutherland SK, First aid for snakebite in Australia with notes on first aid for bites and stings by other animals. 2nd Revision, October 1980. Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Publication, Melbourne. Dr Saul Wiener provided (to Ann Westmore) the following background information on Sutherland's adoption of the pressure immobilisation technique: ‘An arterial tourniquet was the age old method previously used [to treat snakebite]. During the fifties whilst working at CSL to develop red back spider and stonefish antivenenes, I came across a paper by Barnes and Trueta on the lymphatic spread of toxins and venoms in the tissues. As a result, I carried out one experiment in which I enclosed the hind legs of mice in a hip plaster cast and injected 1-2 LD [lethal dose] of tiger snake venom in the exposed rear foot pads. Most of these mice survived. The matter was not pursued further, although I was convinced that immobilisation by stopping lymphatic flow, enabled the animal to detoxify venom locally. Many years later, I think it was in the late seventies, there was a debate in the correspondence section of the MJA concerning the dangers of an arterial tourniquet. I subsequently told Struan Sutherland of my earlier work with crudely immobilised mice and suggested further testing with immobilisation. Struan successfully proved the delay in absorption and with great courage also recommended pressure immobilisation, for which alone amongst his other contributions, he deserves our gratitude.' In 1979, the pressure immobilisation technique was adopted by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council. - Personal communication, Saul Wiener to Ann Westmore [Return to page 74]
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| 16. | Sutherland SK, Trinca JC, ‘Survey of 2144 cases of Red-back spider bites, Australia and New Zealand 1963-1976', Medical Journal of Australia, 1978, II, pp.620-623.
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| 17. | Sutherland SK, Coulter AR, Harris RD, Halberstater L, ‘Rapid death of a child after a taipan bite', Medical Journal of Australia, 1980, I, p.136.
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| 18. | A single average milking of Oxyuranus s. scutellatus produces sufficient venom to kill 50,000 mice or 12,000 guinea pigs. Australian Animal Toxins, op. cit. p.9. For research on the characterisation of Taipan venom by a Swedish group see Fohlman J et al, European Journal of Biochemistry, 68, 2, 1976, pp. 457-469. [Return to page 74]
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| 19. | Sutherland SK, Coulter AR, Harris RD, ‘Rationalisation of first-aid measures for elapid snakebite', The Lancet, 1979, I, pp.183-186.
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| 20. | See Sutherland SK, Coulter AR, Harris RD, Lovering KE, Roberts DI, ‘A study of the major Australian snake venoms in the monkey (Macaca fascicularis). 1. The movement of injected venom, methods which retard this movement, and the response to antivenoms', Pathology, 1981, 13, pp.13-27 and Sutherland SK, Campbell DG, Stubbs AE, ‘A study of the major Australian snake venoms in the monkey (Macaca fascicularis). 2. Myolytic and haematological effects of venoms', Pathology, 1981, 13, pp.705-715.
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| 21. | The CSL Immunology Research Department made six hundred of these unique kits for Australia-wide distribution immediately before Christmas, 1979.
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| 22. | Sutherland details the dispute with Dr Neville McCarthy, Director of CSL, 1974-90, in his autobiography, A Venomous Life, Hyland House, 1998, pp 259-265. He said the fundamental reason for the dispute was the threat of a massive cut-back to his staff.
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| 23. | Dr Alan Duncan, Director of Intensive Care at the Royal Children's Hospital, and Dr James Tibballs, his Deputy, first met Struan Sutherland on 22 November 1979 when introduced by Dr Kester Brown, Director of Anaesthesia at the hospital. Sutherland had written to Brown in October that year, suggesting that collaboration between CSL and some of the anaesthetists at the Royal Children's Hospital could prove highly beneficial. - Struan Sutherland, A Venomous Life, p.197. [Return to page 74]
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| 24. | For Sutherland's version of this incident, in which he also threw some pins, see A Venomous Life, pp.269-273.
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| 25. | Mr Alan Coulter (b.1944), whom Sutherland described as ‘a skilled and meticulous biochemist' received his scientific training on the job at CSL. His mentors included Struan Sutherland and John Cox. By 1971 he was running the radioisotope laboratory at CSL, working closely with Struan Sutherland. He was later a member of the Vaccine Formulation Group in CSL's Immunology and Molecular Biology Department. He retired from CSL in 2005. - Personal communication, Alan Coulter to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 75]
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| 26. | Mrs Susie Kennewell (b.1965) is Struan Sutherland's daughter
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| 27. | Mr Mykola (‘Mick') Kornitschuk BApplSci (b.1945) started working at CSL shortly before Struan Sutherland in 1966 and promptly got to know him. He then completed two years National Service and duty in Vietnam before returning to CSL in 1968. During the 1970s he gained a BApplSci (Biology) at RMIT (part-time studies) and from 1984 he was involved in antivenom manufacture at CSL, travelling widely to oversee the collection of venoms. He maintained close contact with Struan Sutherland during his time at CSL and afterwards, and retired from CSL in 2000. - Personal communication, Mick Kornitschuk to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 76]
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| 28. | Sutherland left CSL in June 1994, a month after the successful public float of CSL. He promptly became Foundation Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit located within the University of Melbourne Department of Pharmacology.
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| 29. | Dr John Handyside (‘Jack') Barnes, MB BS (1922-1995), a former military commando and Cairns medical practitioner, spent years investigating the North Australian box-jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) and provided CSL with venom for immunising animals over many years. As a result of his contribution and outstanding research by Harold Baxter, Heather Gallichio and Alec Marr, the box jellyfish antivenom was released in 1970. Barnes also first captured the Irukandji jellyfish and demonstrated its role in the enigmatic but potentially devastating ‘Irukandji syndrome'. - See Pearn, J.H. and Fenner, P.J. ‘The jellyfish hunter - Jack Barnes: a pioneer medical toxinologist in Australia', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.762-767 [Return to page 76]
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| 30. | Mr Rodney Harris whom Sutherland described as a ‘quiet achiever', initially worked in the radioisotope laboratory at CSL with Alan Coulter. The pair developed sensitive assays to detect tiny amounts of snake venom.
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| 31. | Dr Kathleen Erin Lovering BSc(Hons) PhD joined Sutherland as his technical assistant towards the final phase of his research on funnel-web spider antivenom. She later completed a BSc (Hons) at the University of Melbourne, followed by a PhD (1985) at the Research Centre for Cancer and Transplantation, Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, for a thesis on ‘Characterisation on T cell surface by monoclonal antibodies'. Subsequently, she was appointed Regulatory Affairs Manager of CSL Influenza Vaccines..
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| 32. | Dr Robert Ross Premier MApplSci MSc PhD said by Sutherland to have ‘good ideas', studied biochemistry and microbiology as part of his BSc degree at the University of Melbourne. He later completed an MApplSci in Environmental Science from the University of Melbourne, an MSc in Biotechnology from Monash University and a PhD from Melbourne University (1996) for a thesis on ‘Migration of memory T lymphocytes in peripheral and mucosal lymphoid compartments'. He was associated with Sutherland at CSL from 1978 to 1983 and again from 1990 to 1995.
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| 33. | Professor John Hemsley Pearn AM RFD&Bar, BSc MD BS PhD DCH FRACP FRCP FACTTM FAIM (b.1940) studied science (graduating 1962) and medicine (1964) at the University of Queensland, winning prizes in surgery and child health. He obtained further qualifications in London and Edinburgh before returning to Australia where he was appointed University of Queensland Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane in 1983. He was Surgeon General, Australian Defence Force, 1998-2000 and foundation Deputy Head of the University of Queensland Graduate School of Medicine 1996-2005. He has conducted clinical research on snake and tick envenomation and on ciguatera poisoning; and was National Director of Training for St John Ambulance Australia, 1990-98, and Physician to the Australian and New Zealand forces in the Vietnam war (1970). His keen interest in the history of medicine saw him help found the Australian (later and New Zealand) Society of the History of Medicine of which he was President, 1995-97. ‘John Pearn, AM', Medical History Australia, November 2003, pp. 2-3, and Who's Who in Australia 2000 and personal communication, John Pearn to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 77]
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| 34. | Dr John Williamson BSc MB BS DA FFARACS FANZCA Dip DHM FACTM studied science (graduating 1960) and medicine (1962) at the University of Queensland before undertaking training in anaesthetics. He worked as a consultant anaesthetist at the Townsville General Hospital (1971-74) and the South Glamorgan Area Health Authority in Wales (1975-76) before gaining an appointment as Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the Saskatoon University Hospital, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1976-77. He then returned to the Townsville General Hospital as consultant anaesthetist (1978-89) before moving to Adelaide to become Director of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Adelaide (1990-98). At the time of the seminar he was Specialist Consultant (half-time) at the Australian Patient Safety Foundation in Adelaide. - Personal communication, John Williamson to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 77]
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| 35. | The nematocyst or stinging apparatus of the box-jellyfish is located along the tentacles. It contains a mechanism like a coiled harpoon that springs into action when the tentacle is stimulated. Methylated spirits was later shown to be a poor choice of dousing solution and household vinegar was advocated. See Robert Hartwick, Vic Callanan and John Williamson, ‘Disarming the box-jellyfish. Nematocyst inhibition in Chironex fleckeri', Medical Journal of Australia, 1980, I, pp.15-20.
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| 36. | The box-jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri, is regarded as the most dangerous jellyfish in the world. The central bell or body is large (up to 30 cm in diameter), transparent and very difficult to see in sunlit water. It has up to sixty tentacles when fully grown, each as thick as a bootlace. The pain of envenomation has been described as a savage whip-like pain and likened to being branded by red-hot irons. Then follow skin lesions in the form of vivid red raised wheals, surrounded by a vivid red flare. Adherent tentacles are often present and must be removed using vinegar. The venom in sufficient doses may affect the heart, and frequently destroys skin over the 12 to 18 hours following envenomation.
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| 37. | Venomous & Poisonous Marine Animals: A Medical and Biological Handbook, John A. Williamson, Peter J. Fenner and Joseph W. Burnett (medical eds.) and Jacquie F. Rifkin (biology ed.), University of New South Wales Press and Surf Life Saving Queensland, 1996.
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| 38. | See Endean R, Sizemore DJ, ‘The effectiveness of antivenom in countering the actions of box-jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) nematocyst toxins in mice', Toxicon, 1988, 26, pp. 425-431. Dr Robert (‘Bob') Endean MSc PhD (1925-1997) was born in Lithgow, NSW, and studied zoology at University College, Armidale, and at the University of Sydney where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in zoology and a university medal. In the 1950s, he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Queensland where he completed a Master of Science degree, did research on the emerging field of drugs from the sea and developed the Heron Island Research Station. He was one of the first to report on the destructive effects on coral of the crown-of-thorns starfish, became the public face of efforts to establish protections for the Great Barrier Reef and completed a PhD at the University of Sydney. One of his classic papers was Endean R. and Sizemore D.J., ‘The effectiveness of antivenom in countering the actions of box-jellyfish (chironex fleckeri) nematocyst toxins in mice', Toxicon, 1988, 26, pp. 425-431. Roger Bradbury, ‘Eco-Warrior of the Great Barrier Reef', Oceanguard Society Newsletter and Hawgood, B.J., ‘The marine biologist - Bob Endean', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.768-769. [Return to page 78]
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| 39. | Williamson JA, Callanan VI, Hartwick RF, ‘Serious envenomation by the Northern Australian box-jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri)', Medical Journal of Australia, 1980, I, pp.13-15.
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| 40. | Mr Peter Mirtschin had a childhood interest in reptiles which lay dormant during early adulthood when he studied engineering at the University of South Australia. Some years after graduating in 1974, he began collecting dangerous snakes, starting with a death adder he caught on the Eyre Peninsula. In 1982 he started Venom Supplies Pty Ltd in Whyalla as a part-time home-based business with about 30 snakes whose venom he made available for medical research, antivenom production, treatment and diagnostic uses. Within a few years the business relocated to the local Fauna and Reptile Park, and then at the end of 1989 it relocated to Tanunda in the Barossa Valley where the business grew to include nine employees and 850 snakes. Venom Supplies Pty Ltd now collaborates with a number of Universities and businesses in Australia and overseas. The major breakthrough in getting the business established, according to Mirtschin, was contact with CSL which wanted a regular supply of venom for its antivenom production. The resulting flow of funding enabled the purchase of equipment needed to produce the venom and paved the way for the company to embark on its own research into antivenoms. Mirtschin often consulted with Struan Sutherland in the early days on new frontiers in venom and said; ‘We supplied him with venoms from the Reevesby Island tiger snake, Flinders Ranges Kreffts tiger snake and the Adelaide Hills copperhead. We also shared common views on a range of issues including premedication with adrenaline before use of antivenom. Professor Sutherland was of enormous assistance in helping our business move into exotic snake venom extraction. He supported us in the face of much opposition. Today about 25% of our snakes are exotic and they are of paramount importance in our antivenom research and research into cures for a number of diseases.' In 2006 Mirtschin was appointed an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of South Australia, Tanunda. - Personal communication, Peter Mirtschin to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 78]
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| 41. | The Kreffts tiger snake (Notechis ater ater) grows to about one metre in length and is found mainly in the dry rocky landscape of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It is usually jet black with thin whitish bands and a dark grey under-surface, although darkly banded variants also exist. It is classified as a threatened species due to habitat loss.
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| 42. | The Reevesby Island tiger snake (Notechis ater niger) occurs in the Sir Joseph Banks group of islands in South Australia's Spencer Gulf. It grows to about the same size as the common tiger snake but, in contrast to the latter's tendency to combine brown to green banding, it is jet black in the adult form. Considerable variation occurs in both black tiger snake and common tiger snake venoms according to geography, as demonstrated in Williams V, White J, Schwaner TD, Sparrow W , ‘Variation in venom proteins from isolated populations of tiger snakes (Notechis Ater Niger, N.Scutatus) in South Australia', Toxicon, 1988, 26, 1, pp.1067-1075 and in John TR, Kaiser II, ‘Comparison of venom constituents from four tiger snake (Notechis) subspecies', Toxicon, 1990, 28, 9, pp.1117-1122. [Return to page 78]
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| 43. | See Banks CB and Martin AA (eds), Proceedings of the Melbourne Herpetological Symposium, 19-21 May 1980, Zoological Board of Victoria, Melbourne.
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| 44. | Professor James (‘Jim') Angus BSc PhD FAA (b.1949) trained in pharmacology at the University of Sydney before undertaking research for a PhD on the effects of drugs on blood vessels at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He continued this line of study in Melbourne at the Baker Medical Research Institute and then at University College London and the Wellcome Research Laboratories in England under eminent pharmacologist, Sir James Black, who went on to win a Nobel Prize. He continued his research at the Baker Institute during the 1980s, and in 1990 became its Deputy Director. In 1992 he was appointed to a Personal Chair in Pharmacology at Monash University where he added to his prolific research output which includes more than 200 refereed journal papers and reviews. He moved to the University of Melbourne to head its Pharmacology Department in 1993 and in 2002 he was appointed Deputy Dean of the University's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. In mid-2003, he became Dean. - Personal communication, James Angus to Ann Westmore, and Who's Who in Australia 2003 [Return to page 79]
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| 45. | op. cit. A Venomous Life, p. 338.
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| 46. | Dr Forbes McGain MB BS FRANZCA FJFICM (b.1970) graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1996 and, after spending a year as an intern at the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, he joined AVRU in 2000 where he researched deaths from bee and wasp stings in Australia. He then worked in PNG (2002) and later researched deaths from snakebite in Australia. - Personal communication, Forbes McGain to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 80]
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| 47. | Peter Shepherd, First Aid to the Injured, GP Putnam, New York. A further edition was published in 1882
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| 48. | Dr Roger Alwin Bennett MB BS DA RCP&S (c.1922-1967) was a University of Queensland medical graduate (1945) who studied anaesthesia in Queensland and was closely associated with the St John Ambulance Association and the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Committee, Queensland. - Medical Directory of Australia 1966. [Return to page 80]
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| 49. | Dr Kenneth Grant Jamieson MB BS FRACS FACS (1925-76) studied medicine at the University of Melbourne (graduating 1948) before undertaking further studies and gaining an appointment as Honorary Lecturer in Neuropathology at the University of Melbourne in 1952. He subsequently trained as a neurosurgeon at the Alfred Hospital. After a period as locum neurosurgeon in Perth, Jamieson was appointed the first neurosurgeon to the Brisbane General (later Royal Brisbane) Hospital in 1956. He won international recognition for his surgery on basilar aneurysms, and his studies of head injury and road traffic accident prevention. - Medical Directory of Australia 1974; Wehner V, Eadie MJ, Wehner MS, A Melbourne Doctor and his Generation; Leonard Bell Cox , 1894-1976, author-published, 2004, p. 387 [Return to page 80]
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| 50. | Condy's crystals are composed of potassium permanganate. Historically, they have been dissolved in water for use as an antiseptic and/or antifungal agent.
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| 51. | Dr Ann Macaulay Cameron has been described as Bob Endean's ‘partner in life and science'. – op. cit. Roger Bradbury, ‘Eco-Warrior of the Great Barrier Reef' [Return to page 80]
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| 52. | Mr Charles Tanner (1911-1996) was an eminent Cooktown herpetologist and environmentalist who gathered an historic collection of inland and coastal taipans during the 1970s.
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| 53. | Dr John Iredale Tonge CBE, MB BS DipClinPath FRCPA MAdm trained in medicine at the University of Sydney (graduating 1939) and worked at the Centre for Forensic Sciences, Queensland Department of Health, 1946-79, including a period as Chief Forensic Pathologist. - Medical Directory of Australia 2003. [Return to page 80]
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| 54. | Ciguatera poisoning is a form of food poisoning caused by eating warm water ocean fin fish that carry ciguatera toxin. The poison is produced by tiny dinoflagellate organisms ingested by small plant-eating fish.
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| 55. | Tonge JI, Battey Y, Forbes JJ, ‘Ciguatera poisoning: A report of two outbreaks and a probable fatal case in Queensland', Medical Journal of Australia, 1967, II, pp.1088-1090.
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| 56. | Dr Colin J. Limpus developed expertise in turtle conservations with the Queensland Department of the Environment and was in charge of the Queensland sea turtle project.
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| 57. | Associate Professor Charles Haxton Campbell MB BS MD DTM&H FRCP FRACP (b.c.1928) graduated in medicine from the University of Sydney in 1950 before working in Queensland (1953-55) and Papua New Guinea (1956-65). He pioneered snake bite research in PNG beginning in the late 1950s and continued to work on the project to the early 1970s. He was Associate Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Sydney 1966-75 and Staff Specialist at the Alice Springs Hospital, 1975-86. - Medical Directory of Australia 2003; Campbell CH, Young LN, ‘The symptomatology, clinical course and successful treatment of Papuan elapine snake envenomation', Medical Journal of Australia, 1961, I, pp.478-486. [Return to page 80]
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| 58. | Another individual whose contribution should be mentioned was Dr Ron Southcott. See Pearn J, ‘The medical zoologist – Ronald Vernon Southcott', Toxicon, 2006, 48, pp.755-761.
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| 59. | Dr Allen J. Broad was a colleague of Struan Sutherland's for over 10 years.
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| 60. | Dr John Johnstone (‘Jack') Graydon DSc joined CSL in the 1920s where he became assistant to Dr Frederick Grantley Morgan, later Director of CSL , 1927-56, and worked on insulin production. When an Antivenene Research Department was established at CSL in 1934, Graydon was closely involved. He was in charge of dispensing and drying the penicillin mould during CSL's wartime production of the antibiotic and was also involved in some of the first work on Rhesus factor (important in newborn well-being) in Australia. He gained a DSc degree from the University of Melbourne (1947) for a thesis on ‘The human blood groups'. By the early 1960s, he was a Principal Research Scientist at CSL and played a significant role in a Tasmanian trial of the Sabin vaccine against polio. - See A.H. Brogan, Committed to Saving Lives: A History of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Hyland House, 1990. [Return to page 81]
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| 61. | Dr William Reade (‘Bill') Lane MB BS MSc (1914-1974) graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1938. He worked as a Registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, 1939-40, and enlisted in the armed services, working in the Middle East on two separate occasions. He was hospitalised in Perth with a gastric ulcer and subsequently invalided out of the Army. In 1942 he went into General Practice in Castlemaine, and soon started doing his own laboratory work because of dissatisfaction with the findings from commercial pathology laboratories. Although the laboratory work started as a sideline, Lane began to think it was the sort of work he'd like to pursue. He came to Melbourne looking for a job, and found a position as a Research Medical Officer at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1961. Promotion came quickly, and he was appointed Senior Medical Officer in July 1962 and Chief of Research in January 1964. In May 1964 he was offered a job by a pharmaceutical company which prompted him to write a lengthy letter to the CSL detailing aspects of the organisation and its management that he believed needed to change. CSL responded to his manifesto by appointing him Technical Manager and accelerating the organisation's re-vamp. In 1965 he gained an MSc degree from the University of Melbourne for a number of papers including ‘Antibiotic-producing streptomycetes of Australasian soils'. He was appointed Acting Director of CSL in late 1965 and Director in 1966, continuing in this role until March 1974 when he died of lung cancer, having been diagnosed with the disease the previous November. He is credited with championing CSL's fundamental roles in public health, research and defence, and achieving success to some extent in winning government support for this position. Committed to Saving Lives (op. cit.), pp.168-169 and 184-185, and personal communication, Lesley Lane to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 81]
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| 62. | Dr Desmond Leo (‘Des') Gurry MB BS MRCP DCH DipABPaed FAAP FRACP MACE, a University of Melbourne medical graduate (1956), who later practised medicine in Perth, WA. - Medical Directory of Australia 2003 [Return to page 84]
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| 63. | LD50 test is the most common test for acute-short-term toxicity. It stands for Lethal Dose 50%, that is, the dose of a substance (in mg/kg) that will kill half the animals being tested. LD50 testing is commonly used on medications, agricultural chemicals, cleaners and cosmetics.
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| 64. | Dr Geoffrey Charles Treadgold Kenny MB BS, MSc, a neuroanatomist, was a 1949 University of Queensland medical graduate who taught through two major curriculum overhauls and took part in the shift of the medical complex from the east of the campus to its south-west corner. He was a staff member of the Melbourne Anatomy Department continuously from mid-1959 until 1990 and was then appointed an Honorary Senior Associate and an Honorary Senior Fellow. - Personal communication, Geoff Kenny to Ann Westmore. [Return to page 86]
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| 65. | Associate Professor Julian White MB BS MD FACTM (b.1950) graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide. He became involved in the management of envenomation in the 1970s and was later appointed Head of Toxinology at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide. From this base, he ran a clinical toxinology website, an international clinical toxinology training program, and provided advice and support on cases of envenomation to health professionals around Australia.
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| 66. | The Irukandji syndrome refers to a serious illness caused by certain jellyfish stings in tropical Australia and the Pacific. Named after the Irukandji Aboriginal people from the Palm Cove region of northern Queensland, it is characterised by vomiting, profuse sweating, headache, agitation, rapid heart rate, and very high potentially lethal blood pressure. The Australian Venom Research Unit has collaborated with Surf Life Saving Australia (Queensland) to define the molecular basis of the syndrome and possible treatments.
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| 67. | Winkel KD, Tibballs J et al, ‘Cardiovascular actions of the venom from the Irukandji (Carukia barnesi) Jellyfish: effects in human, rat and guinea-pig tissues in vitro and in pigs in vitro', Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, 2005, 32, pp.777-788.
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| 68. | Dr Edward Robert David (‘David') Dammery, MB BS FRACGP MMed DipVen, GCertAddSt, General Practitioner, Melbourne.
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| 69. | Dr David A. Warrell, MA MD BS DSc FRCP, was founding Director of the Wellcome-Mahidol University Tropical Medicine Research Programme in Bangkok and later Professor of Tropical Medicine at Oxford University and Founding Director of its Centre for Tropical Medicine. In 1997 he was appointed an Honorary Senior Associate of the Australian Venom Research Unit and, in 1999, a Principal Fellow of the University of Melbourne. He was appointed Professor (Emeritus) of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford and has conducted research in many parts of North and South America, Asia and Africa. He has authored several textbooks relevant to tropical medicine, has consulted to numerous organisations and has been President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the International Federation for Tropical Medicine. [Return to page 89]
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| 70. | Currie BJ, Sutherland SK, Hudson BJ, Smith AM, ‘An epidemiological study of snake bite envenomation in PNG', Medical Journal of Australia, 1991, I, pp.266-268.
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| 71. | McGain F, Limbo A. et al, ‘Snakebite Mortality in Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea 1992-2001', Medical Journal of Australia, 2004, II, pp.687-691.
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| 72. | Trevett AJ, Lalloo DG, Nwokolo NC et al, ‘Venom detection kits in the management of snakebite in Central province, PNG', Toxicon, 1995, 33, pp.703-705.
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| 73. | The Laboratory was opened by Professor David Warrell on 2 February 2004.
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Witness to the History of Australian Medicine |  |
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