Annual Report 1998

SIR EDWARD HUGHES, CBE

16 October 1998
Founding Chairman,
The Sir Robert Menzies National Foundation
for Health, Fitness & Physical Achievement
Sir Edward Hughes

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Sir Edward Hughes on 16 October, 1998. Sir Edward served the Menzies Foundation from its inception in 1979 until his retirement in 1996. The Foundation's history records that in February 1979, when the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust agreed that the principal memorial to Sir Robert would be a "medical and health foundation", it was Sir Edward, in association with the late Professor Sir John Lowenthal, who was instrumental in preparing the original proposal for submission to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. There it was agreed that the Foundation should be named the Sir Robert Menzies National Foundation for Health, Fitness and Physical Achievement, that it would be located in Melbourne and that it would be strongly medical in composition with Sir Edward Hughes as its founding Chairman.

Sir Edward came to the Foundation at the peak of his remarkable career in surgery with a world-wide reputation. He was President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons for two terms, and was instrumental in creating the Road Trauma Committee of the College and in developing its strategy regarding seat belts and alcohol legislation. He was the author of 11 books and over 200 papers in the medical and scientific literature. He was knighted in 1977. In Associate Professor John Masterson's summation of Sir Edward's life (The Age, 30 October 1998):

"At university he was a driven man, striving for excellence. He became a brilliant surgeon and an exemplary teacher; he was an ambassador for his country in his field; he served his profession and led the community to adopt world-first road safety measures. His determination to make Victoria the first place in the world for compulsory wearing of seatbelts meant that he saved far more lives through this single initiative than he could ever save with his surgical endeavours".

After his appointment as Chairman of the Menzies Foundation, Sir Edward developed a strong committee network. As the Foundation was to work in the field of health, fitness and physical achievement, he invited medical persons to act as Chairman of the State and Territory Committees and suggested that the Deputy Chairman of these committees should be persons in touch with the community through their business and other associations. In addition to these local committees, Sir Edward created four standing committees in the specialist areas of research, education, headquarters and finance. In these tasks, his ability to co-opt fellow Australians, not only because of their qualifications, but their willingness to donate their skills and expertise was invaluable to the Foundation in its early years.

Sir Edward suggested that the Foundation evaluate its programs through the medium of major national seminars at five-yearly intervals. The first was held in 1980 and resulted in a program of scientific activity for the years 1981-1985. During that period, the Foundation held a large number of conferences, each devoted to an important health problem. The proceedings of each conference were reported in Volumes 1-10 of the Transactions of the Menzies Foundation, a series that was created by Sir Edward to publicise the Foundation's work.

Sir Edward played an active and inspirational role in many of these seminars and workshops including those which resulted in the establishment of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin and the Menzies Centre for Population Health Research in Hobart.

In 1988 the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust and the Sir Robert Menzies National Foundation merged and Sir Edward became Deputy Chairman, a position which he held until ill-health led to his retirement in 1996.

The Foundation owes a great debt to Sir Edward Hughes. It was he who, from the earliest days, set high standards for the Foundation's administration and goals for its future. His leadership, and firm but democratic chairmanship, will be a lasting memory for the men and women who were privileged to be committee members under his guidance.