Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsAcademics - PhilosophyHistorySydney Sparkes Orr was summarily dismissed from the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania in March 1956 on a morals charge following a Royal Commission on the University which was precipitated by the publication of an open letter from Orr to the Vice-Chancllor. From then until his death in 1966, Orr's case for reinstatement and compensation was fought in many arenas. Richard Moulton Eggleston was Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council 1956 to 1958 when the Orr case erupted. Donald Farquhar Mackay, D.Phil. (Oxon) MA was a Senior Lecturer in History, Law School, University of Melbourne in 1960 when he agreed to serve on the Federal Council of University Staff Associations of Australia's Committee of Investigation into the Orr Case. He took the place of Associate Professor Kathleen Fitzpatrick, who withdrew because of ill health. John Stewart Turner, Ph.D., at the time Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne, was a member of the 1955 Royal Commission on the University of Tasmania. Roy Douglas Wright, D.Sc., M.B.B.S., was Professor of Physiology at the University of Melbourne. During the period, Wright was active on the executives of both the Melbourne University Staff Association and the F.C.U.S.A.A. Asked by Orr to review the evidence in May 1957, Wright later became Orr's 'next friend' (in law, one who represents any person who is not able to appear 'sui juris', in a suit at law).
Accession
Orr Case. University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 01/05/2026, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/59383
