McGregor, Dr Alexander Roy

Dr A R McGregor, Mayor from 1949 to 1952, is best remembered for his contribution to the establishment of tertiary education in Toowoomba.

Dr McGregor’s efforts to have advanced education brought to the city were rewarded in 1967 when the Queensland Institute of Technology, Darling Downs Branch, was established.

Shortly after, it was renamed the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (now the University of Southern Queensland).

Alexander Roy McGregor was a 34 year old medical practitioner when elected Mayor of the city in May 1949.

Early in the 1960s he was elected chairman of the Darling Downs University Establishment Association, the aim of which was to establish a university in Toowoomba.

When those efforts proved fruitless, he headed the group whose efforts were directed to bringing some form of tertiary education to the Downs. At the time of his death, he was chairman of the Darling Downs Association for Advanced Education, the main governing body of the DDIAE.

From the establishment of the institute, he was a strong force for the establishment of a teachers training college and residentials for institute student.

When Dr McGregor was tragically killed in a traffic accident in Paris in April 1970 at the age of 65, the first residential hall, Davis College, had been built and a second was in its planning stages.

The second college, name McGregor College in honour of his efforts, now provides accommodation for almost 200 students. Dr McGregor was a foundation member of the local committee, which inaugurated the Toowoomba Adult Education Centre.

Keenly interested in the arts, he also assisted with the foundation of the first branch in Queensland of the Arts Council of Australia.

The acting Mayor of Toowoomba at the time of Dr McGregor’s death, Mr J E Duggan, said of the former Mayor on April 27, 1970:

“It is difficult in paying tribute to him to select any one quality that stood out above all others. He was a wonderful family man; a former Mayor of the city, he served with distinction; a medical man who gave of his talents and skill far beyond that required to be extended to an individual patient.”

Dr McGregor was survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons.