Melbourne Fritz Duras Lecture
The Melbourne Fritz Duras Lectures commemorate Dr Duras' significant contributions to Health and Physical Education.
Bringing physical education into conversation with culture, creativity and technology
In partnership with ACHPER, the 2023 Fritz Duras Lecture will be given by long-time collaborators Adam Goodes and Dr Baden Pailthorpe.
They will reflect on Margaret Williams-Weir, Australia’s first Indigenous university graduate and a PE teacher taught by Fritz Duras. Adam and Baden will chart the links between physical education, sport and creative arts, and technology, and the relevance of these links to the future of education in Australia.
This lecture will be held online on Monday 4 December 2023, from 6:00-7:00pm.
Dr Fritz Duras
Since 2008, the Faculty has held the Melbourne Fritz Duras Lecture 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.
Past lectures
Contact us
For more information on the Dean’s Lecture Series, please email our events team.