Arthur Joseph Bearup was lecturer in medical parasitology for thirty years at the University of Sydney. After completing his schooling, he joined the Postmaster General's Department where he worked in Nhill, Victoria as a telegraph messenger until he qualified as a telegraphist. Bearup was then sent to Brisbane and then Mt Surprise in Queensland. His service with the Postmaster General's Department was interrupted during the First World War when Bearup joined the Australian Imperial Forces and was sent to the Middle East. Upon his return to Australia, he was transferred to the Commonwealth Department of Health in 1922. one of his tasks there was to help establish a Commonwealth Health laboratory in Townsville. In 1928 Bearup transferred to the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine, also in Townsville, and was appointed technical assistant to the parasitologist. The Institute closed down in 1930 and most staff, including Bearup were transferred to the School of Public Health and Tropical medicine at the University of Sydney. Arthur Bearup spent the next thirty years researching and teaching parasitology there. In 1968 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to medicine