Sir Albert Coates Oraration and Memorial Awards

Sir Albert Coates is one of Ballarat's most distinguished sons and the University of Ballarat is honoured to be able to collaborate with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust in organising an biennial oration in his honour. The first Oration was delivered in 2001.

Born in 1895 at Mt Pleasant, close to the present-day Sovereign Hill, Albert Ernest Coates became one of Australia's leading surgeons and a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery. He enjoyed a long association with the University of Melbourne.

As a very young man, he served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front during the First World War and, at the age of forty-six, volunteered for service in the Second World War. Captured by the Japanese, he became one of the hero-surgeons on the infamous Burma-Thai Railway. He was knighted in 1955 and died in 1977.

The University of Ballarat is particularly mindful of Sir Albert's vision for higher education in Ballarat. As early as 1963, Sir Albert was reported in The Courier as arguing that Ballarat was a natural site for another university because of its cultural heritage and tradition of learning. This period was one where university education was beginning to expand; Victoria's second university, Monash, opened its doors to its first students in 1961, followed by La Trobe University in 1967.

Despite Sir Albert's words, the University of Ballarat was not formally proclaimed until thirty-one years later, in 1994. However, what has become the University of Ballarat has evolved from a number of antecedent institutions, including the third oldest tertiary institution in Australia, the former School of Mines Ballarat. Looked at in this light, Ballarat has demonstrated a tradition of learning reaching back over more than 130 years, and forging ahead into the future.

His life was one which embodied the values of the University of Ballarat: Intellectual responsibility and independence; Integrity and ethical practice; Services to one another and to our communities; Learning throughout life; Promotion of diversity; Purposeful change, continual improvement and sustainability; Achieving quality.

Albert Coates Memorial Trust - www.albertcoates.com

Invitation to the 2008 Sir Albert Coates Oration (pdf, 4.9MB)

Orators

The first two Orations have been published under the title "Any mug could've done it - Sir Albert Coates". Copies can be obtained by contacting Public Relations (03) 5327 9502 or marketing@ballarat.edu.au

Memorial Awards

Please contact Student Recruitment on 1800 811 711 for further information about these awards. Images reproduced with the generous permission of the Albert Coates Memorial Trust.