Julian Smith (photographer)

Julian Augustus Romaine Smith, B. Sc., M.D., F.R.A.C.S., Hon. F.R.P.S. (1873-1947), was a British-Australian surgeon and photographer

Early life and education

Julian Smith was born on 5 December 1873 in Camberwell, Surrey, England, the son of Rose Amelia Smith (née Pooley) and Julian Augustus James Smith, master mariner. His family migrated to Adelaide, Australia three years later. He was educated at Prince Alfred College and the University of Adelaide where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in 1892 and on graduation taught at his former school, returning to University to study medicine from 1893. He rowed in the winning Adelaide university crew in 1895-96. However a mass resignation of all honorary physicians and surgeons due to disagreement between the board of management of the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital and the government ceased clinical instruction, so that in 1897 Smith and seventeen other students had to move to Melbourne to complete their studies, and there he rowed in and coached the Ormond College rowing crew 1897-98. Smith graduated with M.B. in 1898 and B.S. in 1899 at the top of his year, with exhibitions. He was made senior resident medical officer at (Royal) Melbourne Hospital, and was interim medical superintendent. He obtained his M.D. (Melbourne) in 1901 followed by the M.S. (Adelaide) in 1908.

Surgeon

Smith and Edith Reynolds married at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne on 24 September 1901 and he began general practice at Morwell, Gippsland. In 1905 he was a junior partner in the Melbourne surgical practice of Frederic Bird. In 1906 he returned to England to St Mary's Hospital, London, working in vaccines and vaccine therapy. Two years later Smith joined the honorary surgical staff of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, and influenced its recognition as a clinical school of the university in 1909. He successfully established rooms in Collins Street and in 1927 he became a foundation fellow of the (Royal) Australasian College of Surgeons. He retired from St Vincents and was appointed consulting surgeon in 1929. In 1936 he retired from practice, but in World War II returned to surgery. From his interests in haematology, he made the prototypes of a pump for transfusing blood direct from donor to patient, and devised a machine for sharpening and polishing transfusion and other needles, both inventions advanced surgical treatment. As a member of the British Medical Association in 1901-36 he promulgated views on surgery, particularly on diseases of the urinary tract, at branch meetings and his research in urology and transfusion was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Photographer

Known as a distinguished surgeon in Melbourne, Smith established a parallel career as an eminent photographer after taking up the medium in his late forties, specialising in portraiture which he exhibited locally and internationally. In 1946 the Australasian Photo-review paid tribute to him;

"It is safe to assume that every Australian photographer is familiar with the work of Dr. Julian Smith His artistic genius, his technical skill and his versatility are famous, not only in Australia, but throughout the whole world of pictorial photography."

He was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. In his early history of the medium in Australia Jack Cato asserted that Smith "had no superior in any part of the world".

Smith died of cancer on 13 November 1947 at his East Melbourne home and was cremated with Anglican rites. His wife, two sons and daughter survived him. Posthumously, Kodak published a portfolio of Smith's portraits, Fifty Masterpieces of Photography.

Exhibitions

• 1958, September to November: The Memorial Exhibition of Character Portrait Studies by the late Dr Julian Smith, The Kodak Galleries, Sep - Nov 1958