Fred Hollow's Grave and Memorial

Professor Fred Hollows is highly regarded for his work with Indigenous communities in the Australian outback. Professor Fred Hollows became caught up in the plight of Indigenous people, alarmed by the high incidence of trachoma in Indigenous children. He was instrumental in setting up the Aboriginal Medical Centre in Redfern in 1971, and was later founding director of the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program. His forays into the Australian outback with his mobile clinic were legendary. Fred Hollows was 63 when he died on 10 February 1993. On 17 February 1993, after an official state funeral at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, and in accordance with his own wishes, Fred Hollows was laid to rest in Bourke, where the red dirt and mulgas signal the start of the outback, which he loved so much. In February 2006, the original gravestone was replaced with a new granite sculpture, commissioned by the Hollows' family, created by Austrian sculptor Andreas Buisman and erected with the generous support of friends, the Bourke Shire Council and the local community. Today, Bourke remains Fred’s final resting place, but it represents something greater. It’s a place where among the red dirt, the spirit of Fred’s work can be seen, a snapshot of the real Australia that he fought so hard for.