Bundoora

Distinguished and Famous people from Bundoora

🌟 John Matthew Vincent Smith

Racehorse breeder John Matthew Vincent Smith bought Bundoora Park in 1899 and commissioned the substantial house now known as Bundoora Homestead. Architect Herbert Wilson won the design competition, and the fourteen-room residence was built in 1900. Smith lived there with his wife Helen and their children while operating the stud. The Commonwealth bought the property in 1920, beginning its later life as a repatriation hospital. Today's art centre occupies a building that began as the home of a family deeply involved in the horse-racing world.

🌟 Nancy Millis

Microbiologist Nancy Millis served as chancellor of La Trobe University from 1992 to 2006, creating a substantial institutional connection with its Bundoora campus. Her wider scientific work included industrial microbiology, wastewater treatment and oversight of genetic engineering research. She chaired national committees concerned with the safety and implications of genetic modification. Her career joined laboratory knowledge with difficult public questions about how new science should be used. At La Trobe, that experience informed university leadership during a period of considerable technological and educational change.