Welcome to our live coverage of Professor Richard Scolyer’s memorial
Hello, welcome to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s live coverage of the state memorial service for former Australian of the Year, Professor Richard Scolyer, who died of brain cancer last month.
Remembered for undertaking experimental treatment for his own highly aggressive brain cancer, and widely loved for his humility, courage and determination, many of Scolyer’s friends and family will be in attendance at today’s service in the Sydney Opera House.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Governor-General Sam Mostyn will deliver tributes and eulogies. Cancer-fundraising cycling group, Tour de Cure, will ride from Martin Place to the Sydney Opera House in Scolyer’s honour.
Senior writer and Scolyer’s friend, Garry Maddox, who co-wrote Scolyer’s memoir Brainstorm, will also be in attendance. You can read his tribute here.
Peloton arrives at the Sydney Opera House ahead of memorial
The Tour de Cure peloton has arrived at the Sydney Opera House, riding slowly behind a white Lexus which is carrying the bike owned by the late Professor Richard Scolyer on the roof.
It’s commemorating Scolyer’s rides to raise funds for cancer research since 2023.
Cheers and applause erupt as about one hundred cyclists finish the journey, starting from Martin Place here. Tears stream down the cheeks of some of the cyclists as they finish the journey. Clint Bowen, who oversees the rides, said Scolyer started cycling with the group as a cancer researcher and finished his last event in March as a patient.
The mood here at the Opera House is sombre. Tourists wander around mourners, and it is a cool 13 degrees. But it feels like 10.
How will Richard Scolyer be honoured
Former Australian of the Year and cancer researcher Professor Richard Scolyer will receive a state memorial service from 11am at the Sydney Opera House.
Governor-General Sam Mostyn, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Chris Minns are expected to be among 2500 people in a full Concert Hall. Peter Garrett and Martin Rotsey from Midnight Oil – Scolyer’s favourite band – and Kate Miller-Heidke will perform.
The 90-minute service will be broadcast on 9, 9Now, ABC TV, iView, and 702 ABC Sydney on radio. Before the start, a Tour de Cure peloton will cycle from Martin Place to the Opera House, commemorating Scolyer’s rides to raise funds for cancer research since 2023.
Clint Bowen, who oversees the rides, said Scolyer started cycling with the group as a cancer researcher and finished his last event in March as a patient. Struggling at times, he rode 500 kilometres through Tasmania over four days.
NSW premier pays tribute to Scolyer ahead of service
NSW Premier Chris Minns said on Monday morning ahead of the service, Professor Richard Scolyer lived on through his groundbreaking research, which has saved thousands of lives globally.
“Richard and Georgina Long are responsible for groundbreaking immunotherapy that literally saved thousands and thousands of people, not just in Australia, but right around the world,” Minns told Today.
“It was a breakthrough scientific technology that’s now being applied to those who are suffering from cancer treatments and melanomas.
“The sad reality is that we couldn’t extend Richard’s life, but what an amazing legacy. What a great Australian. And this is an opportunity to thank him and his family for everything he’s done for our country.”
Who was Professor Richard Scolyer?
December 16, 1966 – June 7, 2026
Professor Richard Scolyer, the world-renowned pathologist, skin cancer researcher and joint Australian of the Year for 2024, died in Sydney on June 7, aged 59.
His life changed dramatically when he had a seizure in a Polish hotel room in May 2023.
For his type of tumour, median survival was just 14 months. Seventy-five per cent of patients over 50, which he was, died within a year. Instead of more conventional treatment to maximise his survival, Scolyer opted for a radical option proposed by Long that was based on what they had learnt as the institute pioneered immunotherapy for patients with advanced melanoma. It’s a treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.
Scolyer became the world’s first brain tumour patient to try a combination of three immunotherapy drugs before surgery and an anti-cancer vaccine. He also went through extensive medical testing to generate as much scientific data from his treatment as possible.
Watch live: Professor Richard Scolyer state memorial service
Welcome to our live coverage of Professor Richard Scolyer’s memorial
Hello, welcome to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s live coverage of the state memorial service for former Australian of the Year, Professor Richard Scolyer, who died of brain cancer last month.
Remembered for undertaking experimental treatment for his own highly aggressive brain cancer, and widely loved for his humility, courage and determination, many of Scolyer’s friends and family will be in attendance at today’s service in the Sydney Opera House.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Governor-General Sam Mostyn will deliver tributes and eulogies. Cancer-fundraising cycling group, Tour de Cure, will ride from Martin Place to the Sydney Opera House in Scolyer’s honour.
Senior writer and Scolyer’s friend, Garry Maddox, who co-wrote Scolyer’s memoir Brainstorm, will also be in attendance. You can read his tribute here.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
