In 1951 the Executive Committee set about fulfilling another of its key objectives - the funding of cancer research.
The coordination of all activities in relation to cancer research began with the Medical and Scientific Committee approving several requests for experimental research funding.
Dr R Motteram, a pathologist at the Austin Hospital, was sent overseas at the expense of the Cancer Council to study experimental work in transmissible tumours in animals.
A grant was also given to a Professor Trikojus to carry out research into radioactive iodine, with particular reference to thyroid carcinoma.
Dr Kaye Scott also received funding to study the therapeutic efficacy of radioactive iodine, radioactive phosphorus and nitrogen mustard at the Royal Melbourne and Austin Hospitals.
In 1954 Donald Metcalf begins his research work as the Carden Fellow, his salary financed out of the accumulated income of the Carden Bequest.
In 1955 Dr TE Lowe is appointed Chairman of the Medical and Scientific Committee and his experience in formulating research policy becomes invaluable.
During its early years, the Cancer Registry was located in the Spring Street offices of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Case records outgrew the space available and in 1956 a property at 410 Albert St, East Melbourne was leased specifically to provide offices for the Registry.
Several grants were made available during the 1950s to send Registry staff overseas to study. Cynthia McCall spent 6 months in the US and UK and upon her return reported that the Cancer Council's scheme compared favourably with overseas practice.
Throughout the 1950s the Registry continued to provide an important service to cancer researchers and others throughout Australia, being the only cancer Registry in the Commonwealth.
Two surgeon members of the Medical and Scientific Committee, Thomas Ackland and Victor Stone, persuaded that Committee in December 1951 to appoint them as an 'editorial committee'. The aim was to improve the treatment of cancer by bringing home to Victorians the danger in delaying the seeking of treatment.
Three education pamphlets - 2 on cancer facts for men and women and one on 7 common warning signs - were produced during the next 3 years.
The material was distributed to medical practitioners, hospitals and Red Cross and public bodies.
The Executive Committee took direction of education activities in September 1955 and a subcommittee was developed with W Allan Dick appointed chair. He and the subcommittee directed the education programs of the Cancer Council until it was disbanded in 1983 when responsibility was transferred to the Director, Dr Nigel Gray.
In 1957 the American Surgeon-General, Leroy E Burney, declares the US Public Health Service's official position that the evidence points to a causal relationship between tobacco and lung cancer. From this time, smoking becomes a central focus for the Cancer Council.
In 1957 the Executive Committee set about planning a major appeal to be held the following year. The Appeals Committee was reconstituted and set itself the goal of raising 500,000 pounds. W J Kilpatrick was named Chairman and proposed the appeal be directed by a 'Committee of 100', composed of leading citizens. Subcommittees were to be formed to cater for the individual characteristics of the city and country.
Special gifts, industry, house-to-house canvas (door knock) and functions subcommittees were organised for the city. Committees were proposed for separate country districts comprising a medical person, three leading businessmen, a bank manager, one woman and the local president of the Returned Servicemen's League. A separate publicity committee comprising of representatives of press and radio would also be formed.
The theme of the appeal 'One more river to cross' was developed by W J Kilpatrick and played on the fact that the medical profession had conquered the major diseases which plagued mankind except for cancer.
The 1957 Annual Report notes that the conduct for the appeal provided an unequalled opportunity for informing the public of the necessity for early diagnosis of cancer.
The door knock campaign, which initiated this form of fundraising in Australia, was organised into 136 postal districts each directed by a District Chairman. It was structured with 1,250 captains, 5,640 lieutenants and more than 40,000 cancer callers. The response by Melbourne citizens was phenomenal with just five out of every 100 homes choosing not to contribute. More than 300,000 ($5.4 million) was raised.
The Industry and Commerce section of the appeal raised about 270,000 pounds ($5 million). Pay deductions and contributory schemes were wholeheartedly supported by unions, societies and social clubs. Twelve major groups organised their respective segments of industry covering private enterprise and government departments. The liquor industry, supported by a sportsmen's committee under the chairmanship of Walter Lindrum raised money through it's own registered charity 'Patronage' and contributed in excess of 100,000 pounds ($1.8 million). This money was later transferred as a supplement to the Carden Bequest.
Perhaps one of the most significant and unique contributions to the appeal came from the British Australasian Tobacco Co. The appeal came around the same time at the Cancer Council began its long fight against tobacco and cigarette smoking. W J Kilpatrick made arrangements to see the chairman of BATC in the hope of inducing them to support the appeal unconditionally. The final donation amounted to 3000 ($54,000) in each of two years to support the program of research in the Pathology Department at the University of Melbourne. It is believed this was the first and only donation the Cancer Council accepted from a company in the tobacco industry.
The total amount raised officially by the appeal was 1,350,000 (about $24 million in today's terms) but after closure of the appeal in August 1958 money continued to be received. A further 60,000 ($1 million) was never attributed to the appeal.
Planning for the expenditure of the funds raised during the One More River To Cross campaign was well advanced before the appeal concluded. It was decided that 75% would be spent on research, 12.5% on education of the public and medical profession, and 12.5% on aid to cancer sufferers.
The 1959 Annual Report states: "Research grants approved for 1959 totalled approximately 102,000 as compared with 25,000 in 1958 and 12,000 in 1957. These figures speak for themselves , and show that there are many able and enthusiastic investigators in Melbourne anxious to work in the field of cancer, provided funds are available for this purpose."
By the end of 1959 the Cancer Council was supporting 26 research projects in universities, hospitals and medical research institutes. The studies covered a wide range of subjects, from basic research on the nature of cell growth to clinical studies of treatment of leukaemia.
A policy on medical research was drafted and it was decided that financial support could be given in three forms: grants-in-aid, fellowships and travel grants.
The 1958 Annual Report states:
"One of the problems which has faced the Council since its inception has been the lack of adequate facilities for care of cancer sufferers whom treatment has failed to cure, and who are incapacitated in the terminal stages of the disease."
It was decided to spend some of the funds raised through the appeal on providing financial assistance for the care of such patients in their own homes, or in nursing homes, when beds were not available in public hospitals. Additional hospital beds for cancer patients would also be funded.
The Cancer Council also gave 50,000 to Caritas Christi Hospice for the Dying for a new extension to make room for more beds for terminal cancer patients.
"Experience has shown that these measures have provided the answer to this pressing problem and that now no cancer patient in Victoria need suffer because of lack of proper provision for medical and nursing care."
In 1959 the Cancer Council provided 8000 to the Royal Women's Hospital to fund a visit by Professor Wied from the University of Chicago - an eminent authority on cytological diagnosis.
The Cancer Council recognised that new detection methods of 'cancer in the uterus' were particularly useful and agreed that Victorian pathologists should learn the latest methods and implement a service by which every patient attending the Hospital would be examined by this means to determine whether unsuspected cancer might be present.
Professor Wied conducted a month-long course in cytological diagnosis in May 1959 at the Royal Women's Hospital. Pathologists and technicians from the Peter MacCallum Clinic and Queen Victoria Hospital also attended the course.
A hugely popular relay-style event that raises money for cancer research.
1950 Annual Report
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1951 Annual Report
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1952 Annual Report
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1953 Annual Report
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