Associate Professor Gale E. Spring

His continuing research interest and professional practice is in the area of creation and interpretation of images for forensic purposes.

After 25 years at RMIT University, he retired in 2013. His position before retirement was as the Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning in the School of Applied Sciences. He was also the Associate Professor of Scientific Photography, and previously, Program Leader of the multi-major B.Sc. Applied Science degree. He is based in the discipline of physics.

He has an extensive background in aspects of biomedical and forensic imaging and continues to be involved in scientific photography in the School of Science through consulting and presentations on aspects of technical imaging.

Originally from the United States, Professor Spring has lived in Melbourne since 1988. From 1976 to 1987, Professor Spring was the Director of Photographic Services in the Department of Pathology at The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSCD) in Dallas, Texas. The department was affiliated and worked closely with the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science (SWIFS), the Medical Examiner’s Office for Dallas County. It was there Professor Spring was able to gain first-hand experience and knowledge in applications of imaging in areas of medicolegal, forensic and law enforcement. He worked extensively with the medical examiners, ballistics team and questioned documents areas as well as trace evidence. He combined this work with teaching photography in the UTHSCD Graduate School of Biomedical Communications.

From 1988 to 2007, Professor Spring was the Program Leader of the Bachelor and Master of Science, Scientific Photography degree programs at RMIT University. He was responsible for restructuring the RMIT Scientific Photography program, and achieved this by working closely with the medical, forensic and scientific industries as well as defence departments in Australia. He was also instrumental in the creation of the first official ‘forensic photographer’ position at the newly established Victorian Institute of Forensic Pathology (now the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine).

Over the past 30 years, Professor Spring has been involved in many high-profile court cases in Australia, including the Jaidyn Leskie and the Peter Falconio murder cases. In 1989, he photographed all the remaining physical evidence in the Chamberlin v R Case - the investigation into the death of Baby Azaria -  before it was archived awaiting new scientific processes in the event future investigation was required.

He continues to consult and act as an expert witness on matters of photographic interpretation for both the prosecution and defence. He has also given expert testimony to the South Australia Medical Board and the Melbourne Coroner’s Court on issues concerning the photographic documentation from, and interpretation of, forensic evidence. He also created images and presented expert testimony in the Royal Commission 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires in Victoria.

Mailing address

Adjunct Associate Professor Gale E. Spring
RMIT University School of Science
Bundoora Campus – Plenty Road
Bundoora, Victoria 3083