Street named for surgeon

A quiet street in Leith Valley in Dunedin is the perfect spot to remember the late Fred Hollows, his daughter Tanya Woolcott says.

Mrs Woolcott and her husband Peter, the Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand, were in Dunedin yesterday for an event to celebrate Fred Hollows Way, a street in new subdivision Three Hills.

''I love that it's in a place like this near a river.

''It's a beautiful part of the world,'' Mrs Woolcott said.

Her father was born in Dunedin and spent his first seven years in Pine Hill, before leaving Dunedin with his family. He returned to study medicine.

Mrs Woolcott said her father, who died in 1993, ''would not have believed'' the legacy he left.

''He's around us all the time,'' Mrs Woolcott said.

Fred Hollows Foundation executive director Andrew Bell, of Auckland, said the organisation was grateful to subdivision owners and developers John and Ellen Dunckley.

''Fred fought tirelessly for a world where no-one is needlessly blind and his foundation has now restored the sight of more than two million people across the developing world,'' Mr Bell said.

Prof Hollows was an eye surgeon and social justice campaigner, and the foundation continues his life's work by trying to end avoidable blindness in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

The group visited the new street before a formal reception at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum.