Sir Albert Coates Oration and Memorial Awards
Sir Albert Coates is one of Ballarat's most distinguished sons and Federation University Australia is honoured to be able to collaborate with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust in organising an oration in his honour. The first Oration was delivered in 2001.
Albert Coates was born at Mt Pleasant. Leaving school at 11 years he worked as a butcher and apprentice bookbinder. During World War One Coates served as a medical orderly at Gallipoli. He was discharged from the Army on 21 February 1919, aged 24, and upon his return to Australia he put himself through medical school by working at night in the postal service. Within a year of graduating, he was appointed acting Professor of Anatomy at the University of Melbourne. Aged 46, he volunteered for duty during World War II and on 17 March 1942 he became a prisoner of war at Padang Sumatra. He left Padang on 7 May as Medical Officer to a party being sent to Burma, and thereby became involved with the infamous Thai-Burma Railway. Hundreds of lives were saved by his surgical work during this time.
After returning to Australia Albert Coates became Senior Surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Stewart Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Melbourne. On 8 September 2006 the former Mt Helen Union Building was named the Albert Coates Complex at Federation University Australia. Members of the Coates family were present for the naming ceremony.
Sir Albert Coates Oration 2024
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE 2024 SIR ALBERT COATES ORATION – GUEST ORATOR GRANTLEE KIEZA OAM
Federation University Australia, in collaboration with the Albert Coates Memorial Trust, welcomed guest orator Grantlee Kieza OAM with his keynote address “Sister Vivian Bullwinkel” for the 2024 Oration on 20 November 2024 at Federation’s SMB Campus.
This is an inspiring story of the Australian Army Nurse who was the sole surviving nurse of the Bangka Island Massacre when the Japanese killed 21 of her fellow nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island, Indonesia, on 16 February 1942.
Grantlee Kieza OAM was an award-winning journalist for major Australian newspapers in Brisbane and Sydney for four decades. He held senior editorial positions at The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Courier-Mail and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his writing, as well as three Queensland Media Awards and two Australian Sports Commission Awards.
Ballarat-born Grantlee Kieza OAM is the author of more than 20 critically-acclaimed best-selling books including biographies of great Australian figures such as Vivian Bullwinkel, John Monash, Banjo Paterson and Hudson Fysh, the founder of Qantas. Grantlee’s father came to Ballarat in 1950 as part of the large post-war Polish migration but his mother was descended from a Scottish family who arrived on the Victorian goldfields in the 1850s.
Orators
| Year | Orators |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Grantlee Kieza OAM – Sister Vivian Bullwinkel |
| 2023 | Associate Professor Misty Jenkins AO - The power of the immune system: From humble beginnings to personalised approaches to treating cancer |
| 2022 | Professor Peter Doherty AC FRS - In times of crisis: from Coates to COVID and Climate Change |
| 2020 2021 | Oration impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2019 | The Hon Linda Dessau AC - Governor of Victoria |
| 2018 | Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Retd) - Leadership Matters |
| 2017 | The Hon Tim Fischer AC - One Hundred Years Ago, Who Won World War One |
| 2016 | Lieutenant General David Morrison AO (Retd) - 2016 Australian of the Year |
| 2015 | Dr Lachlan Grant - Voices from the past: Recovering memories of POW's for The Changi Book, 70 years on |
| 2014 | Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie AC DSC - Serving Australia: the ANZAC legacy of Albert Coates |
| 2013 | Dr Rosalind Hearder - Coates and Co. Australian doctors in Japanese captivity during WW2 |
| 2012 | Lynette Ramsay Silver OAM - Beyond the Call |
| 2011 | Professor P Mark Hogarth - Medical Research and 21st Century Biotechnology: A triumph over adversity? |
| 2010 | Associate Professor Bruce Waxman - Triumphs and Disasters: Journeys of a surgeon's life |
| 2009 | Dr Lynn Hemmings - Vietnam Memories: Australian Army Nurses in Vietnam |
| 2008 | Major General Steve Gower AO - Remembrance and Commemoration |
| 2006 | Professor Kwong Lee Dow AM - Contrasting education in the time of Albert Coates with education today |
| 2005 | Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Blainey AC - Australia in Peril: Pearl Harbour to the Coral Sea |
| 2003 | Mr John Edwards - Ethics, morality and other things |
| 2002 | Professor Robin Sharwood AM - Finding the way |
| 2001 | Professor Bruce Barraclough AO - Sir Albert Coates - a life |
Albert Coates Memorial Scholarships
The Albert Coates Memorial Scholarships are awarded by the Albert Coates Memorial Trust to students who are able to achieve academic excellence whilst overcoming challenging circumstances.
You can view more information on the Albert Coates Memorial Scholarships website
Images reproduced with the generous permission of the Albert Coates Memorial Trust