Abbie, Andrew Arthur, 1905-1976

Andrew Arthur Abbie, Physiologist and anatomist, was born in Kent in England in 1905, was educated at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School at Rochester. His family emigrated to New Zealand and then to Sydney and after a year in an insurance office he undertook his medical degree at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1929 after a brilliant undergraduate career.

From 1929-32 he was Resident Medical Officer at Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and from 1932-34 worked with Sir Grafton Elliot Smith at University College London, completing his Ph.D. in 1934. From 1936-41 he was Senior Lecturer in Anatomy at the University of Sydney and, after war service as a chemical warfare physiologist and in New Guinea, was appointed Elder Professor of Anatomy and Histology at the University of Adelaide, retiring from the Chair in 1970.

In Adelaide he was active as a member of the Board for Anthropological Research and other anthropological societies as well as in medical societies. He undertook a number of research expeditions with the Board over the decade 1951-61 and published extensively on the physical anthropology of Aborginal Australians in addition to his other special field of neuroanatomy.

Abbie retired in 1970, and died six years later at Unley Park, Adelaide, South Australia, on July 22, 1976.