Dr Vivian Barlow – An Unexpected Gift

People across the community recognise the influence and positive impact of UTAS even when they haven’t studied here.

Dr Vivian Barlow was a ninety two year old retired medical practitioner. The University Foundation recently received the bequest of his estate to establish accommodation bursaries for medical students. His significant gift demonstrates how Tasmania and the University can touch and inspire a person to make a contribution.

Dr Viviane Neville Barlow was born in 1912. His father was British and his mother a Colonial Indian. He had two brothers: one was accidentally shot and killed as a youth and the other had passed away.

Dr Barlow studied as a Medical Doctor in the UK and then practiced in India. He served as a Major in the British Army during World War Two, and then transferred to the British Navy from 1942-45, as he thought he would be of more benefit there.

He also lived in Zimbabwe for many years, working as a Government medical practitioner. While in Africa he provided illustrations for the Central African Journal of Medicine.

Described as “a perfect gentleman” with lovely manners, who always said thank you, Dr Barlow kept meticulous diaries of his day-to-day life and produced hundred of observant and quirky sketches of the people he crossed paths with. These records, as well as other medical books and historical oddities, were amongst the contents he left to UTAS.

In 1983 Dr Barlow arrived in Tasmania, spending a year at Port Arthur. He lived for a period at Dodges Ferry and spent the last years of his life in Mount Nelson. He did a lot of painting around the lookout area. He never married. He was only a small man who took no medication and cooked for himself until his death.

The sale of his estate has created a significant fund that will provide four bursaries worth three thousand dollars each year to medical students. A passionate art lover, he kept a large catalogued large library of Medical and Art books and included TMAG, Hobart College and the Salvation Army in his will.

(With thanks to Mr Doug Reid for his recollections of Dr Barlow)