Tim the Yowie Man pays his respects at Sir Christopher Wren's tomb in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London and discovers interesting similarities to Sir Colin MacKenzie's commemorative plaque in the foyer of the National Film and Sound Archive building in Acton, Canberra.
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00:00 After Sir Colin McKenzie, the founding director of Australia's Institute of Anatomy in Canberra,
00:07 died in 1938, his ashes were interred in a wall of the building just behind a commemorative
00:15 plaque.
00:18 His epitaph, written in Latin, and which translates to "If you seek his monument, look around
00:24 you", is borrowed from the epitaph that adorns the wall tablet above Sir Christopher Wren's
00:29 grave in the crypt at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
00:34 It's no coincidence that the two men share the same words in their epitaph, for although
00:38 Wren is best known for his architectural projects, including his 35-year masterpiece St Paul's
00:44 Cathedral, he also dabbled in anatomical drawings.
00:49 In fact, on display at St Paul's in London is currently an exhibition featuring some
00:54 of Wren's anatomical etchings and sketches.
00:58 Wren and McKenzie were both leaders in their respective fields, separated by 17,000 kilometres
01:03 and over 200 years, but forever remembered in death with similar epitaphs.
01:10 Since 1984, the former Institute of Anatomy building has housed the National Film and
01:15 Sound Archive, where you can see McKenzie's commemorative plaque.
01:19 Watching Sentinel like the McKenzie's final resting place are the low relief sculptures
01:24 of the heads of many of his other heroes, prominent scientists from around the world,
01:29 including Charles Darwin.
01:32 There are also two death masks, those of James Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician and the first
01:37 physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans, and also distinguished
01:43 British surgeon John Hunter.
01:45 Meanwhile, at St Paul's, the only death mask looking over Wren's final resting spot is
01:52 a copy of his own.
01:54 [Music]