Obituary – Professor George Davies

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Tags: dentistry, Obituaries, summer-2010

The late Professor George Davies

Professor George Davies (1921– 2010)

Professor George Davies will be best remembered for his work in preventive dental health care in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific. He was also UQ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor  between 1975 and 1986.

Born in Christchurch, he was educated at the Palmerston North Boys’ High School and graduated in dentistry from the University of Otago in 1943.

His doctoral thesis was a study of the dental health of the people of Pukapuka in the Cook Islands. He passionately believed that primary heath care was the key to health for all.

In 1948, he was appointed Head of Department of Preventive, Public Health and Children’s Dentistry at the University of Otago and introduced several innovative programs. He published two books relating to children’s dentistry. Undergraduates of the time remember him as an excellent teacher and an entertaining raconteur at student dinners.

He was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at UQ in 1964. His research and teaching reputation drew a large number of talented colleagues to the faculty which flourished under his strong leadership.

Under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, he was instrumental in developing a program in Fiji which provided training for oral health workers that met the needs of people in the western Pacific region.

He was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982 for his services to dentistry and to UQ.

On his retirement, he counted the negotiation of exchange agreements with universities in nine different countries, including China and Japan, as among his most satisfying achievements.

Professor Davies was a natural sportsman, representing his school and university college in cricket, tennis and hockey. In spite of an increasing visual impairment, he could still beat his grandchildren on the croquet lawn that he tended so carefully at his holiday house in Caloundra. Among the many mourners at his funeral was a large group from the New Farm Blind Bowls Club of which he was patron.

Professor Davies died in Brisbane, age 88. He is survived by his wife Valerie, three children and five grandchildren.

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