Historical information

Annual Sir John Quick presentation

Physical description

Matthews Collection - 2005 Sir John Quick Bendigo Lecture - "The Strange Case of Cornelia Rau". Presented by Professor Robert Manne 5:45 PM on Thursday 1 September 2005 in the McKay Lecture Theatre, La Trobe University, Bendigo. Invitation, agenda and lecture notes provided.
Cornelia Rau is the youngest daughter of Edgar and Veronika Rau, a solid middle class German couple from the Balic city of Hamburg. Edgar first bought his family to Sydney in 1967 to establish in Australia a branch of the pharmaceutical company for which he worked. In 19779 the family returned to Germany. After two years Edgar took his wife and younger daughter, Cornelia, by now in her mid-teens, on company business to Indonesia. In 1983 Edgar left the company and settled in Syndney. Cornelia, a warm, vivacious but troubled and restless young woman. Cornelia completed a diploma in leisure and recreation and began work as a Qanta flight attendant in 1993. in 1998 she suffered a complete mental breakdown following a harrowing attack on her character while a member of the Scientology splinter sect known as Kettja. Cornelia never recovered. She was eventually diagnosed with "chronic schizophrenia. She passed from one medical crisis to another.
The presentation discusses this case history.