Chapter Five
Public Service
The Philanthropist · Skin and Cancer Foundation of Australia · 1985–1995
In retirement, Alec MacKelden devoted eight years to the Skin and Cancer Foundation of Australia — work that earned him the nation's highest civilian honour.
Chairman, Skin and Cancer Foundation, 1986–1995
MacKelden joined the Board of the Skin and Cancer Foundation of Australia in July 1985, and became Chairman in 1986. The Foundation operated a major dermatology clinic at the St. Vincent's Medical Centre in Darlinghurst, Sydney, and a branch at Westmead. He served as Chairman for eight years on a purely honorary basis.
Under his chairmanship:
- Annual patient services increased from 2,100 to 3,600
- The MOHS procedure (microscopically controlled excision of skin cancer) was introduced to western Sydney via Westmead, with procedures increasing from 50 to 400 per year
- A pigmented lesion and melanoma clinic was established, running three days a week
- Facilities at Darlinghurst and Westmead were expanded
- Public awareness of skin cancer, sun protection and UV exposure risks was significantly increased
- Similar organisations in other Australian states received support and encouragement
Member of the Order of Australia, 1995
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
Australia Day Honours, 26 January 1995
Mr Alec Frank MacKELDEN, MC · Surfers Paradise Qld 4217 · For service to the community, particularly as Chairman of the Skin and Cancer Foundation of Australia.
— Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, Special Issue No. S8, Thursday 26 January 1995. Published by the Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
MacKelden received the news with characteristic self-deprecation. In the epilogue to his memoirs, written in 1996, he reflected: "Earlier in that year I had been invested with the 'Order of Australia' for services to medicine (Skin Cancer) — an entirely unexpected, probably undeserved! but nonetheless much appreciated honour and distinction."
Two Honours, One Life
"How ironic our fortunes can be! For I have now received two major honours. One for services deemed to have contributed to the alleviation of mankind's suffering. The other for the killing and maiming of innumerable young men for whom I bore no personal malice."— Alec MacKelden, from his memoirs epilogue, 1996
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Family — A Quite Wonderful Day