Discipline of Anatomy and Histology

The Department of Anatomy was established in 1890 with the creation of the Challis Chair of Anatomy. J T Wilson was appointed as the first Chair and head of the Department. The department steadily developed under him and his successor, John Irvine but it was under the direction of Arthur Neville St George Handcock Burkitt, appointed in 1925, that the department began to grow.

Burkitt created three new part time teaching positions in the areas of surgical anatomy, neurohistology and dental histology and he also appointed a member of staff to act as recorder and librarian for a library consisting mainly of his books. He also organised for the appointment for up to forty honorary demonstrators to work alongside the extant four or five demonstrators in the dissecting rooms adding a new dimension to this area with the addition of these surgeons, many of whom were senior in their field.

In 1928 the Bosch Chair of Histology and Embryology was created, thanks to the benefaction of George Henry Bosch, and Claude Witherington Stump was appointed. He also donated 1000 to the department for equipment. This was welcomed at a time when staff cutbacks were being made due to economic constraints and the teaching staff carried a heavy schedule but Burkitt still managed to provide strong support and funding for his post graduate students.

Burkitt retired in 1955 after 30 years of service. He was succeeded by N W G Macintosh, a Sydney graduate who had joined the department in 1944 and become a Reader in 1950.

In 1956 the Department of Histology and Embryology was created and so became a separate entity from the Anatomy Department. These two departments were to co-exist until 1993 when they were reunited with C D Shorey as their head.

Macintosh's years in the Chair saw the enrolments increase steeply causing a quota to be placed upon the entry of medical students so that, by the time of his retirement in 1973, they were back around the same number as when he was appointed. He was to able to further expand the department with the addition of six teaching staff and enlarged the dissecting space to accommodate an increase in demonstrators.

Macintosh retired in 1973 and was replaced by M J Blount, the Professor of Anatomy at the University of New South Wales. He shortened the anatomy course to a new 5 year course which abolished the dissections and increased the intensive tutorials.

His retirement in 1987 saw J Stone take over the Chair until 1993 when Associate Professor C D Shorey took over as Head of Department although Stone remained the Challis Professor.

In 2018 the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology was an internationally recognised and respected education and research institution. The Discipline offered a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and carried out extensive biomedical research. Research tools included a high-resolution transmission electron microscope and confocal microscope and specimen preparation facilities. Other facilities included automated electrophoresis, high-pressure liquid chromatography, standard histology, immuno-cytochemistry, in-situ hybridisation and surgery. The Discipline also housed major museums such as the JT Wilson Museum of Anatomy and the JL Shellshear Museum as well as collections that were supplemented by a growing range of online learning resources.   (http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/anatomy/ accessed 9/3/2018).