Harley Kilgour Baxter was a surgeon in Melbourne, Australia. He was born in Melbourne on 6 August 1946, the son of Rex Ransley Baxter, a businessman, and Kathleen Anne née Hyland. His grandfather was J M Baxter, an ENT surgeon. He was educated at Trinity Grammar School, Kew, Victoria, and Melbourne University, doing his clinical studies at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He did his early training at Austin Hospital and demonstrated anatomy at Melbourne University, and passed the FRACS in 1974. He then came to London to be a registrar at Charing Cross Hospital, passed our FRCS, and then returned to Melbourne. In 1973 he married Kathryn Nicholson. He died on 31 January 2009.