125 stories for 125 years

Nigel Manning

Dr Nigel Manning CBE was dean of the college from 1963 to 1978. During this time he took the college from an apprenticeship to a science based course recognised worldwide. He worked tirelessly for the college and was a dedicated teacher, builder, patron of the arts and visionary, whose legacy was the modern college.

Born in Sydney, Nigel studied pharmacy for two years at the University of Sydney before moving to Melbourne to join his father’s pharmacy as an apprentice and enrolling to finish his studies at the college.

After graduating, he joined his father in the family’s Melbourne pharmacy at the Flinders Street Station main concourse. Nigel spent the next 29 years working in and eventually running the family business. Nigel’s wife Jean was apprenticed to him in the business when she decided to enter pharmacy several years after they married in 1935.

Nigel had amazing energy and focus. He became a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1941 and completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne in 1948. In 1947 he joined the college staff as a part time lecturer, a position he held until 1961. During this period of working, studying and teaching, he also published 150 short papers on practical pharmacy matters in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy – a remarkable achievement.

In 1952, Nigel was elected chairman of Section O (Pharmaceutical Sciences) of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS), a position he held for nine years, and to the Pharmacy Board of Victoria, with three years as president from 1959 to 1961.

In the late 1950s, the college had outgrown its premises in Swanston Street and plans were underway to build a new campus in Parkville. Nigel teamed up with his great friend Eric Scott and raised over £1 million from Victorian pharmacists and the pharmaceutical industry to help fund the construction. He had great input into the design of the campus and took special interest in its artistic adornment, including the commissioning of the Sissons Mural, in which he posed for one of the figures. During this time he also participated in the planning of the new full time academic pharmacy course, which commenced in 1960.

In 1962, dean A.T.S. Sissons retired after 42 years, and Nigel was offered the position. During his time as dean, Nigel reorganised the college and increased the emphasis on research and academic rigour. He created three autonomous schools within the college and introduced a high quality baccalaureate, masters and, in association with the University of Kansas, PhD through the Intersearch program, which is now co-named in his honour.

He also established a Doctor of Pharmacy research program in association with the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria. This made the college the first non-university in Australia to grant PhDs. With the establishment of the Victoria Institute of Colleges, he succeeded in offering the first non-university Bachelor of Pharmacy and later the first non-university masters degrees in Australia.

In the late 1960s, Nigel oversaw the construction of a third building on campus to house research laboratories and conducted fundraising for its fit out and later renovations. The building was named after him to honour these efforts and his great encouragement of research.

In 1970 he was appointed General Secretary of ANZAAS, a position he held for the next two years, during which he rewrote the constitution and reconstructed the organisation. His demand for high quality science and research led him to create the then-named Institute of Drug Technology and a system of industrial professorships, which, along with the Intersearch program, were the beginning of the college’s outstanding research achievements.

Nigel was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1974 for his contribution to academic and professional pharmacy. He retired as dean in 1978.