Gray, Andrew Sexton (1826 - 1907)

Summary

Andrew Gray was a surgeon and ophthalmologist who, having completed his training in Dublin, was for four years assistant at St Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital and Dispensary for Diseases of the Eye and Ear. He became surgeon-superintendent to the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, making several journeys on migrant ships to Australia before settling in Victoria in 1859. After three years in Geelong as surgeon to a railway construction company, Gray set up practice as surgeon and ophthalmologist in Russell St, Melbourne. In 1863 he established the Eye and Ear Infirmary for the treatment of diseases of the eyes and ears of the poor, holding outpatient clinics three times weekly. Following considerable public agitation for the Institution to become a public clinic, this was achieved in December 1866 when it became the Melbourne Institution for Diseases of the Eye and Ear. Gray was appointed surgeon and occulist for life. The Institution ultimately became the Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. Colleagues during this period included Aubrey Bowen and James Neild, the first Director of the Melbourne Institution. Gray and James Ruddall were probably the first in Australia to use local anaesthesia effectively. A prominent member of Melbourne medical circles, during the 1860s Gray was appointed Surgeon to a number of charitable organisations, including the Asylum for Infants and the Benevolent Asylum. He was a founding member, and President, of the Medical Society of Victoria, and inaugural President, Ophthalmological Society of Melbourne.

Details

Chronology

c. 1846

Education - Completed medical training in Dublin, Ireland

1852

Education - Member, Royal College of Surgeons of England

1853? - 1859

Career position - Surgeon-superintendent to the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners

1859

Life event - Migrated to Victoria

1862

Career event - Established practice as surgeon and ophthalmologist in Russell St, Melbourne

January 1863

Career event - Joined the Medical Society of Victoria

1863

Career event - Established Eye and Ear Institution, East Melbourne

1865

Career event - Elected Surgeon to Benevolent Asylum, Melbourne

1866

Career event - Appointed Surgeon to the Asylum for Infants

1866

Career event - Appointed Surgeon to the Asylum for the Blind, Melbourne

1866 - 1870

Career position - Surgeon and ophthalmologist for life, Melbourne Institute for Diseases of the Eye and Ear

16 December 1866

Career event - Appointed surgeon and ophthalmologist for life, Melbourne Institution for Diseases of the Eye and Ear

1871

Military service - Commissioned Assistant Surgeon, Sandridge Volunteer Artillery Corps

1871 - 1873

Career position - Surgeon and ophthalmologist for life, Melbourne Eye and Ear Institute

1873 - 1907

Career position - Surgeon and ophthalmologist for life, Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital

1879

Career position - Vice-President, Medical Society of Victoria

1880

Career position - President, Medical Society of Victoria

1881 - 1883

Career position - Member of Committee, Medical Society of Victoria

1884

Military service - Promoted to Surgeon-Major, Victorian Militia

1899

Career position - Inaugural President, Ophthalmological Society of Melbourne

Related entries

Published resources

Conference Papers

• Lowe, R.F., 'Founders of Ophthalmology in Victoria, Australia: A.S. Gray, J.T. Rudall and T. A. Bowen', in History, Heritage and Health: Proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of Medicine, Norfolk Island, 2-9 July, 1995 edited by Covacevich, Jeanette, Pearn, John, Case, Donna, Chapple, Ian and Phillips, Gael (Brisbane: Society of the History of Medicine, 1996), pp. 373-374.. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Obituary: Andrew Sexton Gray', Australian medical gazette, 26 (1907), 40. Details
• Gray, A. S., 'Gunshot wound of thigh, haemorrhage, ligature of the femoral artery, gangrene, amputation and death', Australian medical journal, 7 (1862), 181-4. Details
• Gray, A. S., 'Injuries to the eye', Australian medical journal, 8 (1863), 190-5. Details
• Gray, A. S., 'Chronic iritis complicated with cataract-twenty one year's standing - operation - recovery of sight.', Australian medical journal, ns, 2 (1880), 454-6. Details
• Gray, A. S., 'Presidential address [to the Medical Society of Victoria]', Australian medical journal, ns, 3 (1881), 17-28. Details
• Lowe, Ronald F., 'Early Melbourne eye and ear hospitals, and Dr Turnbull's house at 101 (157) Spring Street', Australian and New Zealand journal of surgery, 50 (5) (1980), 546-9, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1445-2197.1980.tb04192.x. Details
• Lowe, Ronald F., 'The Ophthalmological Society of Melbourne (1899 - 1913)', Australian journal of ophthalmology, 8 (1980), 257-70, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9071.1980.tb00350.x. Details
• Lowe, Ronald F., 'Andrew Sexton Gray (1826 - 1907), a founder of Australian ophthalmology: his life and times', Australian journal of ophthalmology, 13 (1985), 421-31, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9071.1985.tb00458.x. Details
• Wilson, Gwenifer C. M., 'The Introduction of Local Anaesthesia in Australia, January 19, 1885', Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 13 (1) (1985), 71-78. Details

See also

• Gardiner, Lyndsay, The eye and ear: The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital centenary history (Melbourne: Robertson & Mullens, 1968), 114 pp. Details
• Hadden, O. Bruce; and Kaufman, David V., 'Australasian ophthalmology: trans-Tasman ties', Clinical and experimental ophthalmology, 40 (2012), 108-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9071.2011.02715.x. Details
• Lowe, Ronald F., 'An Outline History of Ophthalmology in Australia', Australian Journal of Ophthalmology, 12 (1) (1984), 5-14. Details