Bazeley, Percival Landon (Val) (1909 - 1991)

Summary

Val Bazeley was Director, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Melbourne 1956-1961. He was head of a team at CSL involved in the early manufacture of penicillin in Australia during the Second World War. They were the first group in the world to supply antibiotics to the civilian community.

Details

Born in Orbost, Victoria, Australia on 2 March 1909, Bazeley attended the school of veterinary science at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1938. During his course of study, he undertook employment at Australia's Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) during vacation periods. Subsequently, he joined CSL on a full-time basis in 1939. Val Bazeley joined the Australian Army Militia in June 1939, and began full-time military service in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 May 1941.

With the discovery and subsequent large-scale production of the wonder drug penicillin, a project for the production of penicillin in Australia became a high priority defence need. Bazeley was brought back from New Guinea, where he was a captain in the 2/8th Australian Armoured Regiment, to head the team given the task of producing penicillin. Dr. Bazeley visited the United States and returned to set up production at CSL. In the face of great difficulties, given wartime conditions, his personal contribution to the success of the project cannot be underestimated. He was a driving force and spent long hours in the laboratories grappling with the problems of the new venture. By Christmas of 1943, the first Australian penicillin had arrived in New Guinea to save countless lives. In the months to follow, enormous quantities of penicillin were produced in the primitive CSL plant, and Australia can boast of being the first country in the world to have penicillin available for its civilian population, having met not only the needs of its own defence forces, but also those of the American allies in the southwest Pacific. It was during this period that Captain Bazeley was promoted to major. [Source: Wikipedia, 2026-05-27)

Chronology

1939

Military service - Joined the Australian Army Militia

1939 - 1962

Career position - Employee, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Melbourne; Director 1956 - 1961

23 May 1941

Military service - Commenced full time military service in the Australian Imperial Force

1950

Education - MBBS, University of Melbourne

1957

Award - CBE

1962

Career event - Left Australia for the USA to work with Dr Jonas Salk following a public disagreement with the Commonwealth Government about the establishement of the CSL Commission

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Brogan, Alfred H., Committed to Saving Lives: a history of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (South Yarra, Victoria: Hyland House, 1990), 301 pp. Chief executive 4 July 1956 - 24 July 1961. Details
• CSL Board, Celebrating 100, CSL: Just getting started (Melbourne, Victoria: CSL Limited, 2016), 12 pp, https://www.eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS19098.pdf. Details

Journal Articles

• Mathews, John A., 'The Birth of the Biotechnology Era: Penicillin in Australia 1943-80', Prometheus: Critical studies in innovation, 26 (4) (2008), 317-33, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/08109020802459306?needAccess=true. Details

Resources

• 'Bazeley, Percival Landon', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476757. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_b.html. Details
• Leithhead, Barry, A vision for Australia's health: Dr Cecil Cook at work (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2019), 358 pp. Details