Original Series

In March 1928, the first John Macrossan Memorial Lecturers were announced by the University of Queensland Senate.   Both were lawyers.   Mr WA Holman KC was to give a series of two lectures in the Albert Hall in Brisbane, in April 1928, on the subject of “The Australian Constitution: Its Interpretation and Amendment”.  Mr JG Latham, who was later to become the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, was to give another series of two lectures in the Albert Hall in Brisbane, in November 1928, on the subject of “Australia and the British Commonwealth”.

From 1928 to 1993, Macrossan lectures were given almost every year by distinguished Australians on a broad range of topics of public interest.  Many of the lecturers were notable lawyers, including Mr Justice HV Evatt (1936), Mr Acting Justice AD Graham (1938), Sir Thomas Bavin (1940), and Sir Victor Windeyer (1976).  Most of these lectures were individually published – but were never collected in a single volume.  From 1952, the lectures began to be given at the St Lucia campus, rather than in the City.

By 1993, however, the Macrossan Memorial Fund appears to have been exhausted and the lectures ceased.

List of  Lectures

1927                       William Arthur Holman KC (1871-1934)

“The Australian Constitution: Its Interpretation and Amendment”
Delivered in Albert Hall, Brisbane, 11 and 13 April 1928
(UQ, 1928)

1928                       Sir John Greig Latham (1877-1964)

“Australia and the British Commonwealth”
Delivered in Albert Hall, Brisbane, 23 and 27 November 1928
(Macmillan, 1929)

1929                       Sir William Mitchell KCMG (1861-1962)

“Nature and Feeling”
Delivered in Albert Hall, Brisbane, 11 and 13 September 1929
(Hassell Press, 1929)

1930                       Sir Archibald Grenfell Price (1892-1977)

“The History and Problems of the Northern Territory, Australia”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Building, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 17 and 18 September 1930
(Ascott, 1930)

1931                       Lindsay Bernard Hall (1859-1935)

“Art and Life; Seed, Soil, Tillage and Crop”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Building, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 15 and 17 September 1931
(Melbourne University Press, 1931)

1932                       Professor Alexander Clifford Vernon Melbourne (1888-1943)

“William Charles Wentworth”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Building, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 27 and 29 September 1932
(Biggs, 1934)

1933                       Alfred Horatio Martin

“Vocational and Industrial Psychology”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Conference Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 26 and 28 September 1933
(Publicity Press, 1933)

1934                       Sir Douglas Berry Copland CMG (1894-1971)

“WE Hearn: First Australian Economist”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 2 and 7 May 1934.
(Melbourne University Press, 1935)

1935                       Sir John Percival Vaissing Madsen (1879-1969)

“The Ionosphere and its Influence Upon the Propagation of Radio Waves”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 29 and 31 October 1935.
(Simmons, 1935)

1936                       Mr Justice Herbert Vere Evatt (1894-1965)

“Rum Rebellion: A Study of the Overthrow of Governor Bligh”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 15 and 17 June 1936.
(Angus & Robertson, 1938)

1937                       Sir Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch CMG, KCMG (1874-1970)

“The Victorian Era: Its Strengths and Weaknesses”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 20 and  22 October 1937
(Angus & Robertson, 1938)

1938                       Mr Acting Justice Austin Douglas Graham (1869-1941)

“The Life of the Right Honourable Sir Samuel Walker Griffith GCMG, PC”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 6 and 8 June 1939
(UQ, 1939)

1939                       Henry Harvey Dare (1867-1949)

“Water Conservation in Australia”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 19 and 21 September 1939
(Simmons, 1939)

1940                       Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin KCMG KC (1874-1941)

“Life and Works of Sir Henry Parkes”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 24 and 26 September 1940
(Angus & Robertson, 1941)

1941                       Sir Alfred Charles Davidson KBE (1882-1952)

“The Economics of Peace”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 16 and 18 September 1941
(Angus & Robertson, 1941)

1942                       Malcolm Henry Ellis CMG (1890-1969)

“Lachlan Macquarie: Some Aspects of his Life”
Delivered in All Saints Hall, Ann Street, Brisbane, 14 and 16 September 1942
(UQ, 1942)

1943                       Sir Albert Cherbury David Rivett KCMG (1885-1961)

“The Application of Science to Industry in Australia”
Delivered in Ann Street Presbyterian Church Hall, Brisbane, 13 and 15 June 1944.
(UQ, 1944)

1944                       Professor Adolphus Peter Elkin CMG (1891-1979)

“Aboriginal Men of High Degree”
Delivered in the Ann Street Presbyterian Church Hall, Brisbane, 12 and 14 September 1944
(Australasian Publishing Co, 1945)

1945                       Sir John Dudley Gibbs Medley

“The Present and Future of Australian Universities”
Delivered in the Ann Street Presbyterian Hall, Brisbane, 18 and 20 September 1945
(Melbourne University Press, 1945)

1946                       Sir Jack Keith Murray (1889-1979)

“The Provisional Administration of the Territory of Papua-New Guinea: Its Policy and its Problems”
Delivered in the Ann Street Presbyterian Hall, Brisbane, 22 and 24 April 1947
(UQ, 1949)

1947                       Sir George Alexander Currie (1896-1984)

“A Scientist in Search of Education”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, 16 and 18 September 1947
(UQP, 1948)

1948                       Professor Leo Arthur Cotton (1883-63)

“The Life and Work of Sir Edgeworth David”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, 28 and 30 September 1948

1949                       Sir Harrie Steward Wilson Massey (1908-1983)

“The Atom and its Nucleus”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 12 and 14 September 1949
(UQP, 1950)

1950                       Sir Kerr Grant (1878-1967)

“The Life and Work of Sir William Bragg”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 28 and 29 August 1950
(UQP, 1952)

1951                       Colin Grant Clark

“The Nemesis of Urban Civilization”
Delivered in the Teachers’ Hall, Elizabeth Street, 1 and 3 August 1951

1952                       Professor Leslie Wilkinson (1882-1973)

“The Life and Work of Francis Greenway”
Delivered at UQ, 13 November 1952

1953                       Sir Marcus Laurence Oliphant AC KBE (1901-2000)

“The Creation and Disintegration of Matter”
Delivered at UQ, 1 and 2 September 1953

1954                       Sir Ian Clunies-Ross CMG (1899-1959)

“John Anderson Gilruth: The Influence of his Life and Work on the Development of the Livestock Industry of the Commonwealth
Delivered at UQ, 21 and 22 September 1954
(UQP, 1956)

1956                       Harrison Bryan AO (1923-2008)

“John Murtagh Macrossan: His Life and Career”
(UQP, 1958)

1957                       Professor William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1906-1981)

“Socrates and Plato”
(UQP, 1958)

1958                       Professor Andrew John La Nauze (1911-89)

“Alfred Deakin: Two Lectures”
(UQP, 1960)

1959                       Professor David Harris Russell (1906-65)

“Problems and Trends in American Education”
(UQP, 1960)

1960                       Dr Phillip Garth Law AC, CBE (1912-2010)

“Australia and the Antarctic”
(UQP, 1962)

1961                       Professor Bernard William Smith (1916-2011)

“Australian Painting Today”
(UQP, 1962)

1962                       John William Evans (1906-90)

“The Life and Work of Robin John Tillyard 1881-1937”
(UQP, 1963)

1964                       Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (1897-1967)

“The Future of Nuclear Power”           
(UQP, 1965)

1966                       Professor John Donald Bruce Miller (1922-2011)

“Sir Winston Churchill and the Commonwealth of Nations”
Delivered at UQ, 27 September 1966
(UQP, 1967)

1967                       Professor Francis Keble Crowley (1924-2013)

“Sir John Forrest”
(UQP, 1968)

1968                       Professor Solomon Encel (1925-2010)

“Science and the Future of Australia”
(UQP, 1969)

1969                       Professor Kenneth Stanley Inglis AO (1929-2017)

“CEW Bean: Australian Historian”
(UQP, 1970)

1973                       Sir Ian Munro McLennan KCMG KBE (1909-98)

“History of the Australian Steel Industry”
Delivered at UQ, 19 June 1973
(UQP, 1974)

1974                       Mr Justice Rae Else-Mitchell (1914-2006)

“Legacies of the Nineteenth Century Land Reformers from Melville to George”
(UQP, 1975)

1975                       Professor James Cutt (1937- )

“Economists, Policy Analysts and Government”
Delivered at UQ, 18 September 1975
(UQP, 1976)

1976                       Sir William John Victor Windeyer KBE (1900-87)

“Sir Charles Nicholson: A Place in History”
(UQP, 1978)

1978                       Professor Duncan Bruce Waterson (1935-2018)

“Personality, Profit and Politics: Thomas McIlwraith in Queensland 1866-1894”
(UQP, 1984)

1980                       Dr Herbert Cole Coombs (1906-1997)

“Technology, Income Distribution and the Quality of Life”
Delivered at UQ, March 1980
(UQP, 1980)

1984                       Sir Walter Russell Crocker (1902-2002)

“Role of Sir Raphael Cilento at the United Nations”
(UQP, 1985)

1987                       Professor Frank Johannes Fenner AC CMG MBE (1914-2010)

“Sir Macfarlane Burnett: Scientist and Thinker”
Delivered at UQ, 8 April 1987
(UQP, 1988)

1990                       Dame Leonie Judith Kramer AC DBE (1924-2016)

“David Campbell: Mirage, Wit and Reverie”

1991                       Associate Professor Donald Bruce Dawe AO (1930-2020)

“Tributary Streams: Some Sources of Social and Political Concerns in Modern Australian Poetry”
(UQP, 1992)

1992                       Professor Joseph Michael Powell (1938-   )

“Griffith Taylor and ‘Australia Unlimited’”
Delivered at UQ, 13 May 1992
(UQP, 1993)

1993                       Professor John Passmore AC (1914-2004)

“Worlds Apart: Australia 1933 and Australia 1993”
Delivered at UQ, 21 July 1993
(UQP, 1994)