Memorandum and Articles of Association (of the Victorian Optical Association) Optometrical Course Syllabus, Rules and Regulations, Ethical Code

Historical Significance: This includes details of the course offered by the Association leading to Fellowship of the Victorian Optical Association. The details include: a foreword, the members of the Education committee (Kett, Bell, Latimer and Challen); the subjects of the four years of the course, the lecturers (some of whom were supplied by the Melbourne Technical school); the Regulations for the course; the fees for the course, the examinations (which were held in Kurrajong House, 177 Collins Street, the first home of the Australian College of Optometry) and details of the subjects. There are also details of the post-graduate course of 21 lectures given by Latimer, Bell, Kett and Cumberland. It includes a code of ethics dealing with duty to the profession and the public, duties to patients, duty to fellow optometrists and kindred professions, dispensing prescriptions and four clauses in Article V dealing with not canvassing, dignified advertising, no advertising of fees and prices and prohibition on advertising 'free examination'. The museum holds five booklets giving the Rules of the Victorian Optical Association for 1911, 1924, 1930, 1934 and 1947 (Cat Nos 925, 926. 928 and 929) some of which contain the code of ethics and one the details of the FVOA course.