AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ENDODONTOLOGY
NEW SOUTH WALES BRANCH
A Tribute to
BARRY CHARLES WILLIAM BARKER
MDS, PhD, FDSRCS, HDDRCPS (Glasgow) FRACDS, FPFA
Occasionally there is a person of such outstanding qualities and ability and whose contribution is so significant that some ongoing recognition is desired. The Australian Society of Endodontology (NSW Branch) chose to recognise Barry Charles William Barker by dedicating one lecture each year to his memory, beginning in 1982. As the years pass so does the memory and it is the purpose here to give Members of the Society a glimpse of the scholar honoured by this lecture. Also, to bring to remembrance the contribution that Barry Barker made not only to dentistry in general but particularly to endodontics and the area of oral anatomy.
Barry Barker was bone in 1935 and his high school education was completed as Dux of Sydney Grammar School with a maximum pass in the Leaving Certificate in 1951. He had represented Grammar as a cox in their rowing eights and was involved in swimming and tennis. Barry was awarded a scholarship in aviation and acquired a pilot’s licence at age 16. He became an accomplished pilot to commercial standard and flew a Tiger Moth for many years. Barry was also a skilled flautist, member and sometimes conductor of the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
After spending a year in the commercial world Barry entered the Dental Faculty of Sydney University where outstanding passes each year saw him graduate in January 1957 with First Class Honours and the University Medal - awards not often made in Dentistry in that era. Many of his contemporaries regarded him as the most brilliant graduate the Faculty had produced and his subsequent academic career bore out that assessment.
Following graduation Barry Barker was appointed Teaching Fellow in Operative Dentistry at the University of Sydney. The next year he was appointed as Commonwealth Fellow, then Lecturer tenable in the Conservation Department in the Royal Dental Hospital of London from 1958 to 1960. In residence in London House Barry soon established a reputation as an outstanding post-graduate student dedicated to the pursuit of excellence as student, clinician and teacher. He rapidly gained his Dental Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, in 1959. In doing so he won himself an enviable communicate over the years.
Barry returned in December 1960 to take up the position of Lecturer in Operative Dentistry at the University of Sydney. Here he gained extraordinary recognition a highly gifted crown and bridge worker and ceramist and some of his early publications were in this field.
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A change in career direction saw Barry Barker move to the main campus of Sydney University in September of 1962 to become Senior Lecturer soon progressing to Associate Professor in Dental Anatomy, a position he held for some sixteen years. He developed the undergraduate teaching course, lectured, supervised and demonstrated in the dissecting room and engaged in an unprecedented tutorial programme.
Barry took up residence at St Andrews College in early 1963. He found College an optimal academic environment that allowed him to write his PhD Thesis and publish many articles. Barry enjoyed College life with its informal contact between graduates and undergraduates regardless of Faculty, at the same time relaxing in the more rarefied atmosphere of the Senior Common Room. In 1965 he was made Wilson Fellow of the College, the first dentist to be so honoured. His involvements beyond his own department were both a feature of his generosity and at the same time unduly taxing on his health. He even expanded his self-imposed teaching demands to provide tutorials in Anatomy for medical students. Barry also accepted numerous invitations to lecture to professional bodies from various parts of Australia.
Barry carried out a demanding programme of research on root canal anatomy, where he developed an ingenious technique of demonstrating the finest detail of root canal morphology in transparent tooth replicas. He pioneered a technique of demonstrating the effect of various materials on the dental pulp and periapical tissues in dogs. The latter project gave rise to several publications and won him his PhD from Sydney University in 1970.
The importance of dissection was always uppermost in Barry’s mind and he developed novel approaches to the fields of dental interest and photographic technique for making pictorial records. He submitted much of this work in his thesis for the degree of Doctorate of Dental Science. Ironically the examiners’ meeting for the degree of DDS was on the day he died, this thesis had been unanimously accepted and the honour was awarded posthumously.
Barry’s first publication had appeared in 1959 and was endodontic in nature. He was the principal author of some 36 major publications. Significantly more than two thirds of them were completely or predominantly endodontic in content. Typical of the man, in many of his research articles he generously included identification of his technicians and laboratory assistants as co-authors and omitted his own qualifications. In 1977 the NSW Branch of the Australian Society of Endodontology, in recognition of his enormous contribution to Endodontics, elected him to Honorary Life Membership - the only person at that time, apart from its Foundation President, to be so honoured.
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Barry gained the admiration and affection of the students in no uncertain terms. His lectures were not merely lectures, they were performances of artistic skill, knowledge and entertainment, performances which past students readily recall. His approachability and his willingness to mingle on social occasions with the students at functions won him many friends and admirers over the years. Intellectually he was a giant yet he never saw himself in that light. Rather the reverse, he regarded his accomplishments as barely acceptable and set himself higher and higher standards to reach a level that he personally could accept. With his humility was a sense of dignity and presence yet with a sense of humour lurking behind an often serious countenance. It was probably the enormous pressure to which he subjected himself that led to ongoing health problems and his untimely death on July 17th 1981, aged 46.
It is difficult to nominate Barry Barker’s most outstanding virtues but perhaps one can say that he will be remembered best for two things : his teachings and his human quality. Certainly he built his life around the University and he gave his talents unstintingly to teaching. As a person he had the best of human qualities. He was utterly honest and fair with colleagues and students alike. He was an idealist and was respected by all for his unswerving integrity. For those who knew him or knew of him the dedicated use of his great talents and personal warmth leave a memory and an impact that is unique.