Old Boy Fred Hollows created a legacy that has changed - and continues to change - the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Next Wednesday, October 28, is our annual Fred Hollows Day - an opportunity for our current young men to support the life-changing legacy of one of our Old Boys.  The Prefects will be collecting donations as young men enter the hall for assembly, there will be a sausage sizzle at lunchtime in the main quad and opportunities to try out the cataract glasses and find out how challenging life with preventable cataract blindness is.

Fred Hollows attended PNBHS from 1943 - 1947 and went on to study medicine at Otago University.  Upon graduating he practised medicine in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, London and Cardiff. He studied ophthalmology at Moorefields Hospital in London before moving to Australia. Through the National Trachoma and Eye Health Programme, Fred worked extensively with 465 remote Aboriginal communities and checked more than 112,000 people. He found 50–80% of people had eye disease, a number that he set about reducing. He simplified operating procedures and gave sight back to many hundreds of people.

He had a determination to bring modern eye health services to poorer communities and countries. One of the obstacles to their vision was the high cost of the intraocular lenses IOLs) used in modern cataract surgery, which put IOL implant surgery out of reach of most people in developing countries. By pushing boundaries and demanding change, the Fred Hollows Foundation opened modern intraocular lens manufacturing laboratories in both Kathmandu (Nepal) and Asmara (Eritrea) in 1994. They made IOLs for 3.5% of the cost of other lenses, and high quality, low-cost IOLs became available. Millions of IOLs have been produced and allow eye surgery to be performed for about $25.

“I believe that the basic attribute of mankind is to look after each other. ….. We discover our own humanity by helping others.” He also believed, “Don’t ever ‘half do’ a job, don’t ever compromise. Slog away until you get the job done.” 

Mr Frederick (Fred) Cossom Hollows

AC, MB, BA

9 April 1929 – 10 February 1993

PNBHS from 1943 – 1947
Albion Club
1st XV Rugby
Companion, Order of Australia
Bachelor of Arts (Science and Education) at Victoria University, Wellington
Bachelor of Medicine at Otago Medical School, Dunedin
NZ’s Top 100 History Makers
Australian of the Year 1990
Lions Clubs International: Melvin Jones Fellow
Rotary: Award for World Understanding and Paul Harris Fellow.
PNBHS Business Alumni Inductee February 2012.