The DRF came into being because of a disagreement amongst friends. In 1963, a patient had undergone highly successful surgery restoring his hearing. He wanted to pay the surgeon but the surgeon did not want to take payment because the patient had very close family ties to another ear specialist. The surgeon felt the operation should be ‘on the house’.
A compromise between patient and surgeon was reached when Sir Patrick Eisdell Moore (the surgeon), who was keen to get deafness research started, accepted a cheque from the patient for 50 pounds. He banked it with the Auckland Savings Bank in the name of a new organisation, the Deafness Research Foundation.
This was the start of the DRF and this new organisation consisted of three ENT surgeons – Eric Macdonald, Bruce Cornish and Sir Patrick – as well as the grateful patient and first benefactor, Matthew Wilks.