Australian Dictionary of Biography

Alf Pollard, no date

Courtesy of the Pollard family

Alfred Hurlstone Pollard (1916–2000), actuary, businessman, and professor of actuarial science, was born on 9 August 1916 at Caulfield, Melbourne, second of three surviving children of Victorian-born parents Frederick Pollard, importer, and his wife Florence Mary, née Hurlstone. In 1925, following the failure of his father’s clothing retailing business, the family moved to Norfolk Island, where they leased a banana plantation. There Alf learned skills as a farmer but received relatively little formal education. In 1930, at the beginning of the Depression, Flo moved to Sydney with the three children. Alf was enrolled at Canterbury Boys’ High School, having never before sat an exam. Soon thereafter he was not only the dux of the school, but also came overall first in the State in the 1932 Leaving certificate. He received many awards, including the James Aitken scholarship and the John West medal.

Graduating from the University of Sydney (BSc, 1936; MSc, 1946) with first-class honours, Pollard won the university medal in mathematics and came top of his class in physics. Although a scholarship to the University of Cambridge was on offer, because of family circumstances he instead commenced work at the Mutual Life and Citizens’ Assurance Company Ltd (MLC). He enrolled in the actuarial examinations held through the Institute of Actuaries in London, and qualified as a fellow of the institute in May 1940. That year he was appointed to head MLC’s actuarial department. On 21 June 1941 at the Methodist Church, Ashfield, he married Pearl Cross, a clerk whom he had met at MLC.

During World War II Pollard worked at the University of Sydney, first, as a civilian, training military officers in radar work, and later, in uniform, conducting acoustics research with the Royal Australian Air Force’s No. 2 Flying Personnel Research Unit. Having enlisted on 24 April 1944, he was commissioned on 17 June and immediately granted the rank of acting flight lieutenant (substantive flying officer from December). He was demobilised on 20 February 1946. Meanwhile, he had completed a thesis on statistical mathematics for his master’s degree and was progressing his studies by correspondence with the University of London (BSc (Econ), 1945; MSc (Econ), 1946; PhD, 1948). In 1947 he won the prestigious Rhodes prize, for a contribution to the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries on the measurement of reproductivity, drawn from his doctoral research, and travelled to England for the presentation and for his thesis defence.

In 1954 Pollard became general secretary (later deputy general manager) of MLC, but eleven years later was embroiled in a corporate scandal. MLC had acquired the large whitegoods retailer H. G. Palmer (Consolidated) Ltd in 1963. A receiver was appointed in 1965, and the company was eventually liquidated, leaving debts of more than £50 million and triggering what at the time was the country’s biggest corporate failure. Palmer himself was convicted of charges relating to the issuing of a false prospectus, as was the auditor, John McBlane. Controversially, Pollard was held at least partially responsible by MLC, and in January 1966 he was forced to resign.

Later that year Pollard was appointed the foundation professor in economic statistics at Macquarie University, where he established the first professionally accredited university actuarial program in the world. A prolific publisher of research papers, he was also the author of books that spanned the fields of statistics, demography, and the mathematics of finance. He was awarded the Actuaries Institute of Australia’s H. M. Jackson prize in 1969 and 1970, and again in 1984. In 1975 he was awarded the silver medal of the Institute of Actuaries, the first occasion on which the institute had bestowed a medal on an overseas member, and to a member of their associated bodies overseas.

Pollard suffered a series of heart attacks in February 1976. From his hospital bed he wrote an article on ‘The Selection and Training of Actuarial Students’ that received international acclaim, including winning the prestigious A. M. Parker prize awarded by the Actuaries Institute of Australia (1977). Shortly afterwards he decided to retire. He remained busy, however, among other activities conducting government enquiries and serving on various company boards, including Citicorp Life Insurance and Citicorp General Insurance, Delfin Discount Company, and Olivetti Australia. In 1982 Macquarie University awarded him a doctorate of science for his research into human populations, and in 1995 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters. He was appointed AO in 1990, and the following year he was inducted into the Insurance Hall of Fame.

A humble and gentle man, Pollard enjoyed tennis and music, both singing in and conducting choirs. He was president or chairman of a range of sporting, musical, and other bodies, including the Actuarial Society of Australasia, the Statistical Society of New South Wales, and the Sydney Cultural Council. A committed Methodist, and later Uniting Church member, he was honorary secretary of Wesley Mission (New South Wales). Following the withdrawal of State government funding for the City of Sydney Eisteddfod in 1987, he donated money to keep the event going and founded the Sydney Eisteddfod Foundation, of which he was the founding governor. The same year he was named Father of the Year by the Australian Father’s Day Council. Pearl died in October 2000; Alf followed five weeks later on 4 December at Northwood, and was cremated. He was survived by their four sons, John, Geoffrey, Graham, and Ian, and two daughters, Anne and Christine; John was his immediate successor at Macquarie University. The Sydney Eisteddfod recognises Alf and Pearl in memorial instrumental awards for performance excellence, named in their honour.