Professor Fred Hollows was, an extraordinary man. He believed everyone, everywhere, should have access to the best that modern medical knowledge could provide. Fred Hollows was born in New Zealand. In 1965 following his ophthalmology training in Britain, he immigrated to Australia. In the early 1970s he pioneered the treatment of trachoma and other eye diseases prevalent among the Australian Aboriginal population. He also extended his work overseas, training local medical personnel to perform simple eye surgery in Eritrea, Nepal and Vietnam.

Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 1987 he continued his amazing humanitarian work. In 1989 he adopted Australian citizenship. In 1990 he received the Australian of the Year award, which provided him with the opportunity to speak out against Australia’s involvement in the First Gulf War. He argued that hundreds of thousands of Africans could have their eye-sight restored for the cost involved in producing one single deadly missile. In 1991 he received the award of Companion of the Order of Australia. In 1993, at the age of 63 Fred Hollows, succumbed to metastatic renal cancer. He was survived by his wife Gabi Hollows who worked beside him in the many remote communities for many years. She has maintained Fred’s work in Australia and overseas, through 'The Fred Hollows Foundation' launched in 1992 to continue his work in providing eye care for the underprivileged and poor, and to improve the health of indigenous Australians and other people in Africa, The Pacific, South and South East Asia.