Scotch College

Obituaries June 2001

D. Clifton BATEMAN ('29)
Ross M. Barstow ('37)
John BELLAIR ('27)
Bruce A. bretherton ('38)
Ian S. CAITHNESS ('42)
John M. CAMERON ('46)
F. Ean cumbrae-stewart ('41)
Joe H. C. CURLEWIS ('61)
John A. R. DRUMMOND ('38)
R. Keith EDWARDS ('31)
A. Hugh GRAY ('41)
W. Ian Johnston ('48)
Don R. NICHOLLS ('52)
George B. PULVER ('47)
Royden E.M. WILLIAMS ('21)
Eric P. YEATMAN ('41)

Dr Wilfred T. Agar ('23) was born in Scotland in 1910, the eldest child of Wilfred E. Agar (professor of zoology, University of Melbourne, 1920 - 1947).

The family came to Melbourne in 1920 and in 1924 moved into one of the professional houses in the university grounds. He was educated at Scotch and Melbourne Grammar and overcame many interruptions to his schooling, caused by illness.

Wilfred decided to combine medicine with his BSc. He obtained his MBBS in 1934 with first class honours in medicine and surgery.

After graduating, he joined the scientific laboratory staff of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1936, where he gained valuable experience for his wartime activities.

He became an officer commanding a field transfusion unit that in January 1943 was posted to north-east India. The unit's responsibility was to supply the transfusion requirements of the Allied troops in Burma. He considered that his time in India was probably the most valuable of his working career.

On his return to Australia in 1945, Wilfred was appointed senior lecturer in physiology at the University of Melbourne. What he considered his most useful research was the demonstration that underground waters in the Western District could contain toxic levels of magnesium salts. This work was of great benefit to farmers.