Max O'Connor Lecture

In memory of Max O’Connor, who died in 1985, a Memorial Lecture was established in 1991 in his honour through a donation from his family.  Dr Max O'Connor contributed significantly to the early development of Chemistry at La Trobe. He commenced as a research fellow at La Trobe in 1969 and progressed to level of Reader. Throughout his career, he was regarded as an outstanding teacher and researcher. One of his major research interests was investigating chemistry of molybdenum in biological systems.

Dr O'Connor was actively involved in university life at La Trobe and was a long serving member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He was “recognised for his immense capacity for hard work allied to an equal capacity for the enjoyment of life. He had a gentleness of manner but a great inner strength of will”. Glen Deacon (Monash University) gave the inaugural Max O’Connor Lecture.

Max O'Connor Memorial Lecture presenters

1991 Glen Deacon
1992 Bruce West
1993 Ron Dickson
1994 Tony Wedd
1995 Bob Cattrall
1996 Bob Brownlee
1997 Tony Masters
1998 Barrie Peel
1999 Terry Cardwell
2000 Charles Young
2001 Not awarded
2002 Keith Murray
2003 Lawrence Gahan
2004 Neil Barnett
2005 Phillip Marriott
2006 David Craik
2007 Elak von Nagy-Felsobuki
2008 Roland De Marco
2009 Ian McKelvie
2010 Alan Bond
2011 Paul Francis
2012 Not awarded
2013 Trevor Hambley
2014 Brendan Abrahams
2015 Michelle Spencer
2016 Jacqui Gulbis
2017 Spas Kolev
2018 Tash Polyzos
2019 Brad Sleebs