Catherine Anne Money ( Menzies; born 18 August 1940) is an Australian biochemist whose discoveries have changed

leather making Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

. By introducing a freezing process, she simplified the preparation of hides in Australian tanneries. Her simplified approach which minimise tannery effluents and maximises hide quality is now used globally.

Early life and schooling

Catherine Money (née Menzies) was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Victoria to Sir

Douglas Menzies Sir Douglas Ian Menzies KBE (7 September 190729 November 1974) was an Australian judge, serving as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. He was also Chancellor of Monash University from 1968 until his death in 1974. Early life Menzies w ...

, Justice of the High Court of Australia, and Helen Jean Borland, a community worker and kindergarten teacher, in 1940. Money grew up in

Balwyn Balwyn () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Balwyn recorded a population of 13,495 at the 2021 census. Whit ...

and attended

Preshil Preshil School, also known as The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School, is an independent progressive co-educational, day school located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The original Arlington campus houses the Kinderga ...

(1943–1945) and Fintona Girl's School (1945–1957), in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

and

, respectively. Money spent time in isolation with

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects child ...

at the

Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, originally known as Queens Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, operated from 1904 to its closure in 1996. Perched high on the banks of the Yarra River at Yarra Bend in the inner Melbourne suburb of ...

University

Money graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

in 1960 with an Exhibition in

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology ...

. Thanks to a scholarship, she began a Masters of Science program, specialising in biochemistry, at the University of Melbourne which she completed in 1963. Her thesis, titled: "Studies on the Thyroid Gland", was supervised by Professor Victor Trikojus. She was a postgraduate research student engaged in research for a PhD at

St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College , mottoeng = Temper the bitter things in life with a smile , parent = Queen Mary University of London , president = Lord Mayor of London , head_label = Warden , head = Mark Caulfield , students = 3,410 , undergrad = 2,23 ...

, London, where she worked with Professor Eric M. Crook on immobilised enzymes. On her mother taking ill, Money returned to Australia and sought work at

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

CSIRO

Back in Australia, Money applied to work at the

. The only job available was as an Experimental Officer in the CSIRO Division of Protein Chemistry - working with hides and leather. Until this time, the standard method for removing hair in the preparation of hides involved the extraction of a pulp, which has been described as "an intensive effluent system." Money and a fellow scientist discovered that freezing hides prior to tanning aided in the gentle removal of hair, without the use of toxic chemicals. The process does not damage the animal skins. The freezing preparation of hides is used by leather producers who supply to

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and lea ...

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty Inc., ...

Prada Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and brandin ...

, BMW,

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

and Adidas. By removing the waste pulp whole, which is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus - it becomes its own product, sold as an ingredient for composting or fertiliser pellets.

Retirement

Money retired from CSIRO in 2005 following closure of its Leather Research Centre. She established her own company, Catherine Money Consulting, specialising in the

leather industry Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

and environment. She continued to manage an extension of the

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is an Australian Government statutory agency in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio, reporting to thMinister of Foreign Affairs ACIAR was established under t ...

(ACIR) Project, Salinity Reduction in Tannery Effluents in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and Australia.

Awards

* 1991: John Arthur Wilson Memorial Lecturer – presented to the American Leather Chemists Association; lecture title: "Tannery Waste Minimisation" * 1995: Procter Memorial Lecture – presented to the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists in the UK; lecture title: "Unhairing and Dewooling – Requirements for Quality and the Environment", British Section of the International Society of Leather Trades * 1998: Public Service Medal – for services to the leather industry

References