The forgotten successes and sacrifices of Charles Kellaway, director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, 1923–1944

Abstract

Charles Halliley Kellaway (1889–1952) was one of the first Australians to make a full‐time career of medical research. He built his scientific reputation on studies of snake venoms and anaphylaxis. Under Kellaway's directorship, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute gained worldwide acclaim, and he played a critical role in its success between the world wars. His administrative and financial strategies in the era before the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) helped local medical research weather the Depression and gain a strong foothold by World War II.