Melbourne Fritz Duras Lecture

Dr Fritz Duras

Since 2008, the Graduate School has held the Melbourne Fritz Duras Lecture as part of the Dean's Lecture Series to honour Dr Duras and continue his important work in Health and Physical Education at the University of Melbourne and in the wider community.

Professor G.S. Browne, who was Dean of the Faculty of Education at the time (1930s), helped Dr Duras move from Germany in order to start a course to train physical education teachers. Dr Duras, who was a doctor and specialised in sports medicine, was named Director of Physical Education.

He was a pioneer in the field, having established the first Australian university course in Physical Education. Dr Duras was also the founding President of the Australian Physical Education Association - which evolved into ACHPER (pronounced atch-per) - Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation.