Obituaries for Harold Edwards and letters from him
 Catalogue Number: 1710 Obituaries for Harold Edwards and letters from him Category: Papers Sub-Category: Letter, notes, memos Author: EDWARDS Harold (letters) DWYER Peter (draft obit) Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1991 to 1998 Time Period: 1940 to 1999 Description Of Item: Handwritten letters from Harold Edwards and two obituaries for him. (1) Letter dated Nov 11 1991 to Peter (Dwyer) concerned with locating photographs of former AOA Victorian Division Presidents; (2) Letter dated April 3 1993 to the Secretary AOA about the minutes loaned to him by the AOA of meetings during his term as President of the Victorian Division; (3) Letter dated April 23 1993 to Secretary AOA Vic Div intended for David Southgate, then President of the AOA Vic Div, about his early experiences as an optometrist practising in Victoria including his role in 1936 as an 'inspector' of applicants for registration as an optometrist under the then new Registration Act (this included interviewing the celebrated Henri Van Heems) and his appointment as lecturer in orthoptics in the new Australian College of Optometry course (including comments about John Nathan, then a student); (4) draft of an obiturary for Harold Edwards by Peter Dwyer dated Aug 13 1998; (4) an obituary for Harold Edwards published in The Age August 17 1998 that recounts the Red Baron incident during World War 1. (5) Profile of a president Harold Edwards. Single A4 page. Undated and unsigned but known to be written by Wolf Gartner about 2006 as part of an exercise for the OAA Vic Div to make notes about all the presidents of the Association. Historical Significance: Harold Edwards (1896-1998) was an early Australian optometrist. He served in World War 1 after which he became an optometrist. He earned Fellowship of the Victorian Optical Association in 1921. He was a President of the Victorian Optical Association 1943-1944, 1950-1951, 1957-1959. He was born in Bendigo, where his father was a watchmaker. He practised optometry in Bendigo and moved to Melbourne in 1936. He is known for being the soldier who pulled the dead 'Red Baron' Baron von Richthofen from his wrecked aircraft on April 21 1918. The family have an association with Talbot, a small gold rush town in western Victoria. It has a museum in which there are items to do with the Edwards family and optometry. The museum's main exhibit is the Edwards collection. It is well worth a visit. See http://www.ballarat/com/talbot/talbot_ museum.htm How Acquired: Donated by Peter Dwyer, former member and Fellow of the College Date Acquired: Nov 2010 Condition: Good Location: Archive office. Pamphlet and ephemera filing cabinet. Drawer 4 |