Newsletter of the Victorian College of Optometry September 1967 and membership list at January 1 1967

Historical Significance: The Victorian College of Optometry was founded in 1940 (then the Australian College of Optometry) and provided a 4-year diploma course in optometry. For its first 18 years it had only one full-time staff member, the Secretary of the College: all teaching was done by casual lecturers and governance and management was in the hands of honorary councillors. The 1950s heralded an era of great change: a full-time lecturer was appointed in 1958, the College took occupancy of its own purpose-built premises in Carlton in 1960, in the same year its course was taken over by the University of Melbourne as a 4-year degree course and the College became affiliated to the University of Melbourne in the following year. Funding improved. Additional academic staff were appointed, student numbers increased and a research program was initiated. Higher degree students were enrolled for masters and PhD degrees. This early newsletter in this new era reflects the dynamism of the College in the 1960s. Reference is made to several people, then in their youth, who would exercise leadership in the three decades to come: Barry Cole, Barry Collin, Geoff Henry, Alan Johnston and Rod Watkins