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Canberra Today 15°/16° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Museum collection to showcase Hollows’ legacy

THE National Museum of Australia will showcase a collection of equipment used by the late Fred Hollows to restore sight to thousands of people in Australia and overseas. 

Fred Hollows.
The Fred Hollows Foundation donated portable ophthalmology equipment to the museum used by Hollows, who lost his battle with cancer in 1993.

The collection includes a set of trial lenses and trial frames, an ophthalmoscope and the wooden boxes used to transport them and The Fred Hollows Foundation promotional literature.

The Foundation’s founding director and Hollows’ wife Gabi is pleased more people will learn about the “wonderful work Fred did while he was alive”.

“On 10 February next year it will be 20 years since Fred lost his battle with cancer, so it is wonderful that the National Museum of Australia is putting together a collection of items that will give thousands of visitors an opportunity to learn more about Fred’s life and legacy,’ she said.

“Fred was never one for accolades, I know he would be incredibly proud and honoured that his story was going to be preserved in the National Museum, alongside other iconic Australians.”

Fred Hollows treated and restored eyesight for thousands of people in Australia, particularly Indigenous Australians, and many other countries. It was estimated that more than one million people in the world can see today because of initiatives instigated by Hollows.

Since The Fred Hollows Foundation was founded it has introduced modern cataract surgery around the world.

In the past five years alone, The Foundation and its partners have carried out nearly one million sight restoring operations and treatments – approximately one every 2.5 minutes.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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