Dr John Vallance FAHA

BA, MA, PhD

Biography

Dr John Vallance attended the University of Sydney where he studied classics and archaeology, followed by Cambridge where he completed his MA and PhD in classics at St John’s College. After graduating with starred First Class Honours in Classics, he became a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and taught in the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge for eight years. He has published widely in the field of ancient Greek science and medicine. Between 1999 and 2017 he was Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School.

He has served as a member of the Library Council of NSW and as a Trustee of the State Library Foundation, and is an Honorary Professor for the Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of New South Wales.

What inspired you to take this role?

The State Library has been part of my life since I was a child, and I am delighted now to have the opportunity to support its work in a practical way.

Photo: Dr John Vallance in his Library study in front of a view of Sydney from Crows Nest in 1851 by Conrad Martens.