He is one of the University of Melbourne's most controversial figures.
But now Professor Richard Berry, the former head of anatomy and influential surgeon, has had his name removed from campus.
More National News Videos
- Video duration
- 02:57
How did eugenics thrive in Melbourne?
How did eugenics thrive in Melbourne?
The science of breeding a "better race" is often associated with Nazi Germany, but eugenics was once widely embraced by intellectuals in Melbourne.
Up Next
Australia not enforcing US carry-on ban
- Video duration
- 01:34
- Video duration
- 01:34
Australia not enforcing US carry-on ban
Australia not enforcing US carry-on ban
The federal government has said that it will not be adopting a ban on any electronic device larger than a smartphone, in carry-on luggage on commercial flights from certain middle eastern countries, after both the US and the UK announced the new law. Vision: ABC News 24
Up Next
Former Liberal minister in hospital
- Video duration
- 00:26
- Video duration
- 00:26
Former Liberal minister in hospital
Former Liberal minister in hospital
Former Howard minister Peter Reith is rushed to hospital after suffering a suspected stroke.
Up Next
Drivers miraculously escape flaming vehicles
- Video duration
- 00:36
- Video duration
- 00:36
Drivers miraculously escape flaming ...
Drivers miraculously escape flaming vehicles
Two drivers are luck after walking away from a dramatic two-car collision which caused flames to engulf their vehicles in Hazelwood, Victoria.
Up Next
Climate change denial like anti-vaccination: Sinodinos
- Video duration
- 01:40
- Video duration
- 01:40
Climate change denial like ...
Climate change denial like anti-vaccination: Sinodinos
Saying that science and innovation are required to combat these views, Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos told the Press Club climate change denial and the anti-vaccination movement are similar. (Vision courtesy ABC)
Up Next
Greens to the rescue on housing affordability?
- Video duration
- 00:41
- Video duration
- 00:41
Greens to the rescue on housing ...
Greens to the rescue on housing affordability?
The Greens' idea to abolish stamp duty in favour of a land tax is gaining some traction.
Up Next
The $50 billion question
- Video duration
- 00:28
- Video duration
- 00:28
The $50 billion question
The $50 billion question
Watch, and you'll understand the mounting speculation that the government is preparing to modify its promised company tax cuts.
Up Next
Ley breaks her silence
- Video duration
- 01:27
- Video duration
- 01:27
Ley breaks her silence
Ley breaks her silence
Former Health Minister Sussan Ley decided to release the report into her conduct, breaking her silence on the travel expenses scandal that ended her frontbench career.
How did eugenics thrive in Melbourne?
The science of breeding a "better race" is often associated with Nazi Germany, but eugenics was once widely embraced by intellectuals in Melbourne.
The university has renamed the prominent Richard Berry building for maths and statistics at its main entrance. The move comes after a long anti-racism campaign by a group of staff and students.
Berry lobbied for "sterilisation, segregation and the lethal chamber" for Aboriginal people, as well as homosexuals, poor people and prostitutes.
Up until his retirement in the 1940s, he was Australia's leading voice in the now discredited pseudoscience of eugenics, which aimed to produce a superior human race by having suitable people breed, while at the same time sterilising those with "rotten heredity".
He collected 400 Aboriginal corpses, some stolen from traditional graves, for experiments. They were hidden for decades and only rediscovered in 2003.
He died in 1962 at the age of 95, and never recanted his ideas.
However, since first semester this year, the site has been known as the Peter Hall building, in honour of the world-renowned mathematician and statistician who worked there before his death last year.
The change was welcomed by those campaigning to have symbols of racism and colonialism removed from campus.
Indigenous representative at the student union, Tyson Holloway-Clarke, said the university had a deep and toxic history of racism that it had failed to accept responsibility for.
He welcomed the renaming as a long overdue step towards reconciliation.
"It's been slow progress but this is a demonstration that the university understands," he said. "Peter Hall is definitely worthy as a Uni Melb alumni and given his recent passing, it was timely to recognise a great scholar."
However, Holloway-Clarke and others still hope the university will erect a plaque to explain the history of the building and why it had been renamed, rather than hide the past.
Those campaigning also want at least four other buildings renamed, such as the Frank Tate Learning Centre. Tate drove a parliamentary bill in 1926 to forcibly sterilise up to 15 per cent of Victoria's population including Aboriginals, homosexuals, slum dwellers, prostitutes, epileptics, criminals, alcoholics, and those with small heads and low IQs. The bill passed, but was never enacted.
"What is going to happen is still up for discussion," Holloway-Clarke said. "It's not easy work."
University spokesman David Scott acknowledged a lack of diversity in the names of places on campus, but there were no other buildings being considered for renaming.
He did not respond to questions about whether the history of the Richard Berry building would be on show, such as on a plaque.
"Richard Berry's extraordinary contribution to the discipline of anatomy is honoured through the presence of his portrait in the University's Anatomy Museum."
The renaming campaign joins the likes of the successful #RhodesMustFall group at the University of Cape Town, which was successful in 2015 in having a statue of Cecil Rhodes removed from campus. The movement then spread to include other examples of institutional racism at this and other universities, including Oxford.
The group pointed to Rhodes' role in preparing South Africa for apartheid.
In 2001, student protests at the University of Hawaii resulted in the renaming of a hall that paid tribute to anthropologist Stanley Porteus (also a former Melbourne University academic with racist theories).
Professor Peter Hall produced more than 500 research papers and was regarded as a giant in his field.
His work included many outstanding contributions to statistics and probability theory, but he was renowned for the breadth of his contributions across a wide range of disciplines.