Harold Bickford Hattam, known as 'Hal', was a gynaecologist and a landscape artist and art collector. He was born in Edinburgh on 14 January 1913, the son of Bickford Hattam. The family moved to Australia in 1920 when Hattam was seven. He joined the Australian Army in January 1941 and served in the Middle East, New Guinea and the UK. He was discharged with the rank of captain in January 1947. He gained his FRCS in 1946 and established a medical practice in Melbourne. He also began to paint, although he had no formal training. Between 1962 and 1988 he held a number of solo exhibitions, mostly of abstract seascapes, and participated in a number of group shows. Hattam and his wife also collected a large body of works of Melbourne artists from the 1950s, including paintings by the leading Australian landscape artist Fred Williams. Hattam was married to Kate. They had three daughters (Katherine, Frances and Victoria), a son (John) and six grandchildren. Hattam died on 29 January 1994 in the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. He was 81.