Students at the University of Sydney

Students in the early years

This webpage provides brief information about the beginnings / establishment of the faculties of the University of Sydney, and photos of their early students and graduates.

Click on images for enlargement.

Faculty established	its beginnings	update
Faculty of Arts 1852	1852	now Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
Faculty of Science 1882	1852
Faculty of Medicine 1883	1856	now Sydney Medical School
Faculty of Law 1890	1856	now Sydney Law School
Faculty of Agriculture 1920	1910	now Faculty of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Faculty of Architecture 1920	1887	now Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning
Faculty of Dentistry 1920	1901
Faculty of Economics 1920	1903	became Faculty of Economics & Business. Now the University of Sydney Business School
Faculty of Engineering 1920	1883	now Faculty of Engineering & Information Technologies
Faculty of Veterinary Science 1920	1909
Faculty of Education 1986	1900	now Faculty of Education & Social Work
Faculty of Pharmacy 2000	1883

Update: The following additional faculties arose from amalgamations in the 1990s:

• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Nursing (became Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery; now Sydney Nursing School))
• Sydney College of the Arts
• Sydney Conservatorium of Music

---

FACULTY OF ARTS 1852 (now Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences)

• The Faculty of Arts was the first and only Faculty of the University of Sydney in 1852, with 24 in its first intake of students. Although the Faculties of Medicine and Law were established in 1856, they were only for examining, not teaching, and therefore the Faculty of Arts was the only teaching faculty for some 30 years.
• Lectures by the original 3 professors were given in a building of the former Sydney College in College Street until 1857 when they were moved to the Quadrangle.
• Women students were not admitted to the University until 1881 and the first 2 female Arts students - Mary Elizabeth Brown and Isola Florence Thompson - were not until 1882.
• Update: In 2011, the Faculty had 9,399 student enrolments - of whom 6,194 were women - and in 2011 was renamed the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Two of the first 24 students in 1852

Arts students in 1857, when lectures commenced in the unfinished Main Building

Arts students in 1859

A plaque in memory of a student who died in 1864

A group of administrative and academic staff and students in 1879

Professors and third year students in 1881

The first two women students at the University of Sydney in 1882

An early female MA graduate in 1898

A group photo of Arts graduates in 1908

A group photo of Arts graduates in 1913

A group of Arts students in 1926

A lecture in the Great Hall in 1932

FACULTY OF SCIENCE 1882

• Teaching of Science in the University began in 1852, when the first 3 professors - all based in the Faculty of Arts - arrived. Professor John Smith taught Experimental philosophy along with Chemistry and Professor Morris Pell taught Mathematics.
• The Faculty of Science itself was established in 1882 and the first Dean was Professor Archibald Liversidge.
• In 1885 Frank Leverrier and Ebenezer Clarence Wood were the first 2 Bachelor of Science graduates, Leverrier with first-class honours and the gold medal. The first woman - Fanny Hunt - graduated in 1888.
• While at first the Faculty was slow to attract more than a very small number of students, by 1932 there were 353 undergraduates, with 6 professors in physics, chemistry, zoology, geology and physical geography, botany, and mathematics (pure and applied).
• Update: In 2001 the Faculty had 5,668 student enrolments, more than half of whom (3,159) were women.

A Chemistry class in 1886

The first woman Science graduate in 1888

A Chemistry practical class in 1893

A Chemistry class in 1896

Early Geology excursions

A Chemistry Department Research Laboratory in 1927

Bachelor of Science graduates in 1931

FACULTY OF MEDICINE 1883 (now Sydney Medical School)

• The Faculty of Medicine formally came into being in 1856 when the Senate appointed a Board of Examiners for the purpose of conducting examinations to award the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine. By 1874 there had been 11 successful candidates for the MB examination.
• Senate did not appoint a Professor of Medicine - Professor Thomas Anderson Stuart - until 1883.
• 1883 was the first year that students were accepted for undergraduate training in the Faculty of Medicine. Six male candidates enrolled in Medicine II (there was no Medicine I - first year was common to all Faculties). Students were taught by the Dean, Professor Thomas Anderson Stuart, in a tiny cottage near the Footbridge entrance from Parramatta Road. Of these, only one graduated, David Dunlop Rutledge, and he did so only after repeating a year.
• In the second intake in 1884 there were ten new students and two students repeating the year (both of whom ultimately discontinued). Of the ten, five graduated in minimum time
  (Peter Bancroft, Alfred Edward Perkins, William George Armstrong, Arthur Geddes Henry and Leslie Gordon Davidson) and one (Patrick John Kelly) graduated after repeating a year; the remaining four discontinued.
• There were 15 students in the third intake in 1885, including the first woman to enrol in Medicine in Australia, Dagmar Berne. Six graduated in minimum time and one (W J Sherlow) graduated as late as 1892 after repeating several years. Dagmar Berne did not graduate from the University of Sydney.
• The first female medical graduates were Iza Coghlan and Grace Fairley Robinson (later Boelke) in 1893.
• Confidence in the quality of the medical program encouraged increased enrolments, so that by 1893, the student body numbered close to 100. By the time of the University’s Jubilee in 1902, this number had nearly doubled.
• The Medical Building was completed externally by April 1889 and was able to be occupied.
• Update: Now referred to as Sydney Medical School, in 2010 there were 3,051 student enrolments, more than half of whom (1,754) were women.

The Medical School commenced teaching in 'The Cottage' in 1883

The Lecture Room in the original Medical School

Early Medical staff in 1886

Medical students in 1887

The first two women Medical graduates 1893

The new Medical Building in 1900 (now Anderson Stuart)

The Physiology practical class room in the Medical Building in 1900

A group of Medical students in 1900

The Medicine graduating class in 1911

Medical Prosectors in 1919

A Medical student in 1919

Medical students in 1927

FACULTY OF LAW 1890 (now Sydney Law School)

• The Senate introduced a by-law to establish a Faculty of Law in 1856. However, until the first Professor of Law was appointed in 1890, the work in the main was examining rather than teaching. A Board of Examiners was appointed in 1864, and between that date and 1886, 9 candidates were awarded a Bachelor of Law and 16 a Doctor of Law.
• In 1890 Pitt Cobbett was appointed to the first Chair of Law and became the first Dean of the Faculty. This marked the commencement of the Sydney Law School as we know it today.
• In 1890 the Law School had 14 students and 5 teaching staff (4 of whom were part-time lecturers).
• In 1896 the Law School moved to No 174 Selbourne Chambers, a 3-storeyed building on the site of the present Selbourne Chambers in Phillip Street.
• Until 1902, all Law students at the University were male as the Dean, Professor Pitt Cobbett, would not accept a woman Law student. There was one exception to this in 1899 - Ada Evans - which was only made possible by the absence on leave of Professor Pitt Cobbett.
• Between 1913 and 1969, the Law School moved a number of times, the final location in 1969 being a building of some 16 storeys bounded by Phillip, King and Elizabeth Streets.
• Update: The Faculty, now referred to as the Sydney Law School, moved into its new state-of-the-art building on the Camperdown Campus in February 2009.In 2010 it had 2,503 student enrolments, more than half (1,406) of whom were women.

The first woman Law graduate 1902

A Law student who enlisted in 1916

The (old) Law School building (formerly Wigram Chambers) in Phillip Street in 1968

continued

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE 1920 (now Faculty of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources)

• Initially Agriculture was part of the Faculty of Science - Professor Robert Dickie Watt was the first Professor of Agriculture in 1910.
• The first 4 students were admitted in 1911: James Oscar Heinrich, Harry Stephens and Harold Wenholz (who all graduated Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1914) and Ethelbert (Bert) Ambrook Southee (who won a Rhodes scholarship in 1913 and proceeded to St John's College, Oxford; was commissioned in the (Royal) Army Service Corps in 1914, served on the Western Front and in Italy, and rose to acting major; and graduated Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1919).
• The first female students - Lorna Byrne (Hayter), Margaret Ramsay (Brebner), Muriel Hutton and Isobel (bell) Miller (Jones) - were admitted in 1917.
• The Faculty of Agriculture was established in 1920 with Professor Watt as the first Dean.
• Update: In 2001 the Faculty was renamed the Faculty of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources and thad 636 student enrolments, 426 of whom were men.

The first Agriculture lecture in 1911

The Sydney University Agricultural Society's first annual dinner 1913

Two of the first four women Bachelor of Science in Agriculture students in 1917

Agriculture students and staff in 1926

Agriculture first-years in 1944

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE 1920 (now Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning)

• A part-time Lecturer in Architecture was appointed in 1887 in the Faculty of Science and in 1888, Professor Warren's proposal to introduce a Certificate in Architecture was approved.
• In 1919 the first Architecture degree in Australia commenced with the undergraduate professional Bachelor of Architecture program within the Faculty of Science under Leslie Wilkinson.
• A separate Faculty of Architecture was established in 1920, with Wilkinson appointed foundation Professor of Architecture.
• In 1959, the Wilkinson Building was completed.
• In 1963, Peter Smith became Australia's first PhD graduate in architecture.
• Update: In 2006, the Faculty was renamed the Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning in recognition of the development of activities beyond architecture in which the Faculty is involved. In 2010 there were 1,286 students enrolled, 684 of whom were men.

A group of Architecture I students in 1925

Faculty of Architecture staff and students in 1926

The School of Architecture in 1948

FACULTY OF DENTISTRY 1920

• The University created a School of Dentistry in 1901. The preliminary academic instruction was given in the faculties of Science and Medicine, and practical experience and instruction in operative dentistry was to be provided in the dental department of Sydney Hospital.
• When the hospital board decided that this arrangement was impracticable, the University established a Dental Hospital in the city in 1902 which became part of a United Dental Hospital in 1904. The 3 year course led to a licence in dental surgery; a 4 year Bachelor of Dental Surgery course was introduced in 1904.
• In 1906 the first 13 candidates were admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery, including 2 women, Annie Praed and Margaret Estelle Barnes.
• A separate Faculty of Dentistry was established in 1920.
• In 1939 a new building was established for the Faculty of Dentistry within the United Dental Hospital.
• Update: In 2001 Faculty introduced a 4-year graduate-entry program (the Bachelor of Dentistry), the first graduate-entry program offered by a Dental School in Australia.In 2010 there were 538 students enrolled in the Faculty, 272 of whom were women.

Dentistry students constructing dentures in 1905

Dentistry graduates in 1906

The Dental Hospital in Chalmers Street in 1920

The Faculty of Dentistry in 1921

Women Dentistry students in 1939

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS 1920 (Now The University of Sydney Business School)

• In 1903 the University's extension board arranged a course of lectures in commerce which were very successful.
• In 1907, lectures for a Diploma in Commerce began in the Faculy of Law.
• A Professor of Economics was appointed in 1912 - Professor R F Irvine - and the degree of Bachelor of Economics was provided by the Faculty of Arts from 1913.
• A separate Faculty of Economics was established in 1920.
• The first postgraduate coursework degree offered was the Masters of Economics which was first conferred in 1925.
• Update: In 2000 the Faculty was renamed the Faculty of Economics and Business. In 2011 the Discipline of Economics, the Centre for International Security Studies and the Graduate School of Government were transferred from the Faculty to the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Economics and Business was renamed The University of Sydney Business School.

Commerce students in 1909

Economics honours students with Dr Houghton and Professor Rutherford in 1970

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING 1920 (now Faculty of Engineering & Information Technologies)

• In March 1883 the first classes in engineering formed part of the newly created Faculty of Science, and were attended by 3 candidates for the engineering certificate and 7 non-matriculated students.
• In 1884 Senate appointed William Henry Warren as a Professor and approved a degree in Engineering.
• In 1885 classes moved to Engineering's first building in Science Road on a site now partly occupied by the Holme Building
• In 1909 classes moved from the Main Building to the new Peter Nicol Russell School of Engineering (now the Woolley building) which was made possible by donations from Russell.
• The Faculty of Engineering was established by Senate in 1920.
• The first woman student was admitted to Engineering in the 1940s.
• With the expansion in student numbers in the 1950s and early 1960s, new facilities were constructed in the Darlington extension area across City Road.
• Update: In 2006, the Faculty became the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. Today the Faculty has the following schools: Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering; Electrical and Information Engineering; Civil Engineering; Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Information Technologies. In 2010 there were 4,391 student enrolments, the majority (3,483) of whom were men.

Professor W H Warren and first year Engineering students in 1892

A group of Engineering students in 1907

The first Engineering building in Science Road in 1908

Demolition of the old Engineering building in Science Road in 1910

The Peter Nicol Russell School of Engineering in 1910 (now Woolley Building)

The Annual Dinner of PNR School of Engineering in 1921

Students in the Engineering Laboratory in 1926

FACULTY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE 1920

• Initially Veterinary Science was part of the Faculty of Science, with a Professor of Veterinary Science - Professor J D Stewart - appointed in 1909.
• The first intake of students into the 5-year course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Science was in 1910, and comprised 14 without veterinary degrees and 2 with veterinary qualifications from overseas. Initially students were accommodated in the basement of the then Fisher Library in the southwest corner of the Quadrangle.
• In 1913 the Veterinary Science Building (now JD Stewart Building) was completed.
• In 1920 the Veterinary School obtained Faculty status and Professor J D Stewart became Dean.
• The first woman undergraduate student, Anne Flashman, was admitted to the Faculty in 1930.
• Update: In the last few decades there have been significant infrastructure and building developments for the Faculty. In 2010 there were 1,104 student enrolments, a large proportion of which (820) were women).

The first Veterinary Science students in 1910

The Veterinary Science building in 1914

A Veterinary Science graduate who enlisted in 1915

Veterinary Science staff and students in 1922

Veterinary Science students in 1927

Veterinary Science students dissecting a pig in 1930

The first woman Veterinary Science student in 1930

Veterinary Science students in a dissecting room in 1939

FACULTY OF EDUCATION 1986 (now Faculty of Education & Social Work)

The University	Sydney Teachers College
Education lectureships in the Faculty of Arts had been established around 1900. The first chair in Education at the University was established in 1910, when Alexander Mackie, the principal of Sydney Teachers College, became a professor in Education in the Faculty of Arts.	In 1906 several colleges merged to form Sydney Teachers College at Blackfriars.
In 1940, the Education Department was established in the Faculty of Arts, and the University began training social workers.	Sydney Teachers College lectures were conducted mostly at Hereford House, Glebe Point Road, until 1922 when the College moved into the Teachers College building on the grounds of the University. Despite its close physical and academic association with the University, it was independent of the University.
The Faculty of Education was established in 1986.	In 1982 Sydney Teachers College became Sydney Institute of Education, one of five founding institutes within the new Sydney College of Advanced Education.
In 1990 Sydney Institute of Education integrated into the Faculty of Education.
In 2003 Social Work joined Education in the newly named Faculty of Education and Social Work.
Update: In 2010 there were 2,962 student enrolments in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, most of whom (2,235) were women.

Sydney Teachers College students outside Hereford House in 1910

Sydney Teachers College students at Hereford House in 1910

Women Sydney Teachers College students in 1910

The Sydney Teachers College building in 1925

---

FACULTY OF PHARMACY 2000

• Rudiments of pharmacology were first taught in 1883 in the Medical School. The discipline was described as Materia Medica, and its first lecturer was Thomas Storie Dixson, from 1883 to 1917.
• The University’s involvement with the education of pharmacists began in 1899.
• In 1918 the first Professor of Pharmacology, Henry George Chapman, was appointed. When he resigned in 1920, the position lapsed for 28 years.
• Roland Thorp took up the position of Professor of Pharmacology and Director of Pharmacy in 1949. The Pharmacy course was partly conducted by the University and partly as an apprenticeship program. Pharmacology lectures were given in a temporary 'fibro' theatre known as 'The Barn'.
• Sydney E Wright was appointed to the first Chair in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 1960 on the introduction of the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree course which marked the beginning of pharmacy degree programs in Australia.
• The Faculty of Pharmacy was established in 2000, the first such Faculty in Australia.
• Update: In 2010 there were 1,310 student enrolments in the Faculty of which 811 were women.

A group of Pharmacy students in 1910

A Commem Day float on 19 May 1937

Third year Pharmacy students in 1963

LB