Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences

After foundation, the first meeting as an Academy on 3 August 1967 adopted a constitution.[1] The first president of the Academy was Russell Brereton, a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Later office-bearers included Sir Harry Gibbs (President, 1981), Sir Bernard Sugerman, Gordon Samuels (President, 1974–1976), Michael Kirby (President 1987–1989), Sir Douglas Miller and Sir Kenneth Noad (leading medical practitioners), Professor Malcolm Chaiken, David Bennett (President, 2000–2001),[3] and Professor Peter Beumont.[1][2][4]

Oscar Rivers Schmalzbach was born in Poland in April 1912 and died in Sydney in January 1997. He began his tertiary education at the University of Poland but was forced into hiding when Germany invaded and escaped to Britain, serving in the British Army during the war. After, he became a Research Fellow in Physiology at Middlesex Hospital, completing post-graduate work at Maudsley Hospital and the National Institute of Neurology in 1947. In 1949, he migrated to Australia, arriving in Sydney where he was a medical officer at Callan Park Hospital. In 1963, he became Consultant Psychiatrist with the New South Wales Attorney General's Department and was called upon to give evidence and his opinion in major criminal trials.[5] On 31 December 1979 he was made and Officer in the Order of the British Empire (Civil division).[6]

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