The life of Dr John Hargrave
Dr Hargrave's Legacy
The John Hargrave Society works to build John’s legacy, promote his life’s work and inspire others to walk in his footsteps. We played a role in the acknowledgements below because we want to encourage others to learn more about John’s dedication and commitment to First Nations peoples, and to medicine and surgery.
“Darwin is fortunate to have one of the world’s leading leprologists, Dr John Hargrave, who is involved in research and reconstructive surgery.”
– Ministerial Statement, Legislative Assembly, Northern Territory of Australia 1987.
The John Hargrave Honour Roll
The Dr John Hargrave Honour Roll is a prestigious Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and Practitioner Excellence Award.
Awarded by the Northern Territory Department of Health, the John Hargrave Honour Roll is a lifetime achievement that’s awarded to a health worker who has made significant and positive contributions to the health and wellbeing of individual people, families and communities. They must also demonstrate a commitment to developing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and/or Practitioner professions.
The John Hargave Building
On 6 February 2023, Chief minister of the Northern Territory, the Honourable Natasha Fyles MLA, officially named Building 4 at the Darwin Hospital the John Hargrave Building.
The John Hargrave Park
In January 2025, the Northern Territory Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment, Joshua Burgoyne, accepted a recommendation that a beautiful green section of land in the Darwin suburb of Holtze be named the John Hargrave Park.
The Dr John Hargrave Biography
We have commissioned Sharon Lapkin, a professional editor and writer, to produce the John Hargrave biography. Send us an email on the link below if you’d like to be notified when the book is published.
The John Hargrave Scholarships
Dr Hargrave never married or had children. For 40 years he practised medicine, and pioneered new ways to diagnose and treat diseases that were brought to Australia through European settlement. Dr Hargrave almost completely eradicated leprosy from the Northern Territory, and is remembered as one of Australia’s most renowned surgeons. To those who worked alongside him, or were his patients, he was a hero.
On his death, Dr Hargrave left two scholarships dedicated to the wellbeing of Australians. He donated one to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the other to the Menzies School of Health Research. To date, one scholarship has been created and is in it’s first year of service.
John Hargrave Cardiothoracic Research Scholarship
In 2025, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons awarded John’s scholarship to Dr Tim Shiraev who specialises in vascular surgery. Dr Shiraev’s research topic is ‘Outcomes and mechanisms of function of a novel tropo-elastin neovessel for arterial bypass.’
The John Hargrave Society is looking forward to talking to Tim about his research later in the year.