The Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences is a multi-disciplinary learned society founded in 1967 modelled on the British Academy of Forensic Sciences. The Academy conducts regular conferences, undertakes liaison with other Australian professional bodies including medico-legal societies established in Australia, and makes submissions on forensic sciences issues to governments and governmental bodies.

Since September 1968, the Academy has published the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences.

The Academy awards the Oscar Rivers Schmalzbach Foundation Research Grants, named in honour of the inaugural Secretary-General of the Academy.

History

After foundation, the first meeting as an Academy on 3 August 1967 adopted a constitution. The first president of the Academy was the Honourable Justice Russell Le Gay Brereton, a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Later office-bearers included Sir Harry Gibbs

Harry Gibbs

Sir Harry Talbot Gibbs, GCMG, AC, KBE, QC was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1981 to 1987 after serving as a member of the High Court between 1970 and 1981...

 (President, 1981), Sir Bernard Sugerman

Bernard Sugerman

Bernard Sugerman was an Australian barrister, legal scholar and judge.-Early life and education:Bernie Sugerman was born on 5 July 1904 at Rockdale, New South Wales...

, Gordon Samuels

Gordon Samuels

Gordon Jacob Samuels AC, CVO, QC , was a British-Australian lawyer, Judge and Governor of New South Wales from 1996 to 2001. Born in London in 1923, Samuels was educated at University College School and Balliol College, Oxford. After serving in the Second World War, he was called to the bar and...

 (President, 1974–1976), Michael Kirby

Michael Kirby

Michael Donald Kirby AC, CMG, is an Australian retired judge, jurist, and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009.-Biography:Michael Kirby attended Fort Street High School in Sydney...

 (President 1987–1989), Sir Douglas Miller and Sir Kenneth Noad (leading medical practitioners), Professor Malcolm Chaiken, David Bennett

David Bennett

David Bennett may refer to:* David Bennett , British television continuity announcer* David Bennett , Australian barrister and former Solicitor-General of Australia* David Bennett , American football coach...

 (President, 2000-2001), and Professor Peter Beumont.

Oscar Schmalzbach

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 as 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.On 31 December 1979 he was made and Officer in the Order of the British Empire (Civil division).

External links

• Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences homepage