Earle Hackett

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Dr Earle Hackett (26 April 1921 – 5 April 2010) was an Irish-born pathologist and haematologist who migrated to Australia, where he held several responsible administrative positions. He is best remembered as a radio broadcaster on medical subjects, particularly on The Body Program for ABC which he wrote and presented from 1971 to 1982. He was the author of a number of books based on those programmes, and several biographies for the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia's national broadcaster founded in 1929. It is currently principally funded by direct grants from the Australian government, but is expressly independent of government and partisan politics. The ABC plays a leading role in journalistic independence and is fundamental in the history of broadcasting in Australia.

<i>Australian Dictionary of Biography</i> biographical dictionary

The Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history. Initially published in a series of twelve hard-copy volumes between 1966 and 2005, the dictionary has been published online since 2006.

Contents

History

Hackett was born in Cork, Ireland, son of a successful general practitioner. He was the founding chairman of the Irish National Blood Transfusion Service. [1]

Cork (city) City in Munster, Ireland

Cork is a city in south-west Ireland, in the province of Munster, which had a population of 125,657 in 2016.

He migrated to Adelaide, South Australia in 1958 to take up a position as deputy director of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS) at the University of Adelaide.

University of Adelaide public university in Adelaide, South Australia

The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on North Terrace in the Adelaide city centre, adjacent to the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the State Library of South Australia.

Broadcasting

As a distraction from his administration duties, he sent some scripts to Dr. Peter Pockley, director of science programs for the ABC, which resulted in five talks on "blood" for the radio science program Insight commencing January 1967. His weekly "The Body Program" running from 1971 to 1982, was well received, with its amalgam of medical information, poetry, wit, irreverence and bawdiness, all delivered with Hackett's friendly cultured voice. [1] Scripts from many of these programs have formed the basis of several books published by the ABC and elsewhere. An mp3 download of his final broadcast is available here Science Show tribute. He had resigned from the IMVS to further his interests in broadcasting and other ventures, including a (failed) private blood bank. [1]

Other interests

He was at various times chairman of the board of the Art Gallery of South Australia, chairman of the Crafts Council of South Australia and president of the College of Pathologists of Australia.

Art Gallery of South Australia Art gallery in Adelaide, Australia

The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is one of three significant visual arts museums in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 38,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the second largest state art collection in Australia. It was known as the National Gallery of South Australia until 1967 when the current name was adopted.

He was appointed to the ABC board in 1973, became deputy chairman in 1974, then acting chairman on 10 November 1975, when Professor Richard Downing died of a heart attack. This was shortly before the overthrow of the Whitlam government and Hackett was to prove a staunch defender of the ABC in the face of budget cuts by the succeeding Fraser Coalition government. [1] His stint as acting chairman lasted only six months: he was summarily dismissed and replaced by Sir Henry Bland. [2]

Gough Whitlam Australian politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia

Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.

Malcolm Fraser Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia

John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1975 to 1983 as leader of the Liberal Party.

Sir Henry Armand "Harry" Bland was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Defence from 1968 to 1970.

Personal life

Hackett married a nurse, Eileen Carroll, born in Swaziland of Irish parents. They had three children, Jane, Susan and Johnjames. He was survived by his three children, his second wife, Karin Lemercier and a brother, Ronald, in County Cork. [1]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Obituary: Doctor, broadcaster and thinker". The Sydney Morning Herald . 15 April 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Williams, Robyn And Now For Something Completely Different p.244 Viking (imprint of Penguin Books) 1995 ISBN   0 670 85521 9
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