George Adlington Syme Oration

The first Syme Oration was delivered by Charles H. Fagge FRCS in Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne on 17 February 1932, in conjunction with the presentation of the Great Mace. The oration is now delivered in conjunction with convocation at the Annual Scientific Congress.

Sir George Adlington Syme (1859-1929) was one of the founders, and first President, of the College. He was born at Nottingham and came to Australia as a young child. He gained his medical qualifications from the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1881. After a year at the Melbourne Hospital he went to England for postgraduate study, worked at King's College with Sir Joseph Lister and gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1885.

Back in Australia he returned to the Melbourne Hospital and also held honorary posts at St Vincent's and the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women. A capable administrator, he ultimately became President of the Melbourne Hospital. He was President of the Victoria Branch of the BMA in 1908 and 1919. During World War I he served as chief of surgical staff in the 1st AGH and was present at Gallipoli aboard the hospital ship Gascon. He retired from active practice in 1924 and received a knighthood in that year.

It was Syme's reputation and standing within the profession that secured the support for the foundation of a College of Surgeons. With Hamilton Russell and Hugh Devine, he signed the "Foundation Letter" of 19 November 1925, and in 1926 was given the authority to proceed with setting up the constitutional machinery for the organisation. At the Australasian Medical Congress in Dunedin in February 1927, he was unanimously elected President of the College of Surgeons of Australasia.

Sir George Syme died in office on 19 April 1929 and was buried in the Brighton Cemetery. His widow, Mabel, provided the College with a sum of money, the interest from which was to provide the funds for an annual oration to perpetuate his memory.

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