General correspondence with individual members until 1985

Historical Significance: Membership of the College was valued by optometrists, especially from the inception of the College in 1940 up to 2000. Members were required to be in good standing and to abide by the College's code of ethics. They were expected not to advertise. In the period from about 1975 to 1985, the Optometrists Registration Act prohibited advertising except for certain prescribed announcements. The Act also required optometry practices to be owned and controlled by optometrists. Some optometrists evaded these requirements by setting up or having a relationship with an optical dispensing business. The College did not admit to membership optometrists who disregraded or evaded these restraints. This file includes some interesting correspondence refusing membership or implementing an expulsion from membership for breaches if advertising or the ownership requirement. Notable sets of papers are: 7/5/1968 to M Brumer about his Guide to Visual comfort and Better Health'; transcript of an Interview on 3AW radio with M Brumer about him being refused the opportunity to present a paper to the optometry section of the 1977 ANZAAS meeting and his subsequent public protest; Age newspaper cuttings 24 & 28/1/78 about the same matter; refusal of membership to M Brumer 31/8/1978; a paper Brumer presented to the 49th ANAANZ conference and correspondence with parliamentarians. Correspondence and papers relating to the expulsion from membership of David Leong in 1985 for a breach of the ownership requirement, which Leong appealed to a general meeting of the College.