Dinner marking the dissolution of the Optometrists Registration Board of Victoria held on June 16 2010

Historical Significance: The Optometrists Registration Board of Victoria came into being in 1936 following the passage of the Optiicians Registration Act 1935 in the Victorian parliament. At that time it was known as the Opticians Registration Board. In 2010 the Federal and State goverments agreed that the registration of the health professions should become a national responsibility. The Optometrists Registration Board of Australia had been established by Commonwealth legislation that came into effect on July 1 2010. On that day the State Boards (in most but not all States) were wound up, ending for the Victorian Board 74 years of responsibilty for regulating the profession in Victoria. There were 15 chairs of the Board. The first was Bertram Nathan (see People who made history and a profile of him in Clin Exp Optom 2009; 92: 511-518, which recounts the battle to secure legislative recognition of optometry in Victoria). The last was Greg Strachan, whose father John Strachan was also a chairman of the Board). The wind-up dinner was held in the Tea House restaurant in Burke Roard Camberwell on June 16 and was attended by many past members of the Board, among them 4 past chairs.