Students at the University of Sydney

The first women students and graduates

In 1881 Senate unanimously decided to allow the admission of women, and the passing of the University Amendment Act in 1884 secured the legal rights of women at Sydney University.

On 2 May 1885, Mary Elizabeth Brown and Isola Florence Thompson became the first female graduates when they were awarded the Bachelor of Arts. Two years later, Isola was the first woman to complete an MA at Sydney. At Oxford and Cambridge, women were not to receive degrees for another generation, until the 1920s.

Even though women had been admitted to the University in 1881, some professors doubted their suitability for their particular discipline or course, and consequently did little to encourage women students. It was therefore difficult for women to enrol in some courses.

By 1990 — just over a century after the first Australian woman graduated — women students outnumbered men for the first time in the history of Sydney University, with 15,000 women enrolled in a student body of 26,000.

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A snapshot of some of the first University of Sydney women students and graduates in the earliest faculties appears below:

• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Agriculture
• Faculty of Dentistry
• Faculty of Engineering
• Faculty of Veterinary Science

Click on images for enlargement, and on links for further information.

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Faculty of Arts 1852

1852 – the first students were admitted to the first faculty - the Faculty of Arts. Only male students were eligible and this remained the situation for almost 30 years.

1881 – Senate unanimously decided to allow the admission of women:-

1882 – Mary Elizabeth Brown and Isola Florence Thompson were the first two women matriculants at the University, enrolling in the Faculty of Arts.

1883 – matriculating in 1883, Jane Foss Russell joined the second group of women to enrol at the University. In her first year in the Faculty of Arts, she obtained first-class honours in chemistry, experimental physics and classics, and second-class in mathematics (which were then part of the Arts degree) - see photo below.

1885 – Mary Elizabeth Brown and Isola Florence Thompson were the first female Arts graduates at the University:-

1886 – Jane Foss Russell graduated Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in classics and second-class in mathematics - see photo below.

1887 – Isola Florence Thompson went on to become the first woman to complete Master of Arts at the University.

1889 – Jane Foss Russell graduated Master of Arts:-

1890 – 43 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Arts compared with 241 male undergraduate students.

1892 – Jane Foss Russell was the only female on the university teaching staff when she was appointed Tutor to Women Students.

1898 – Isabel Margaret Fidler graduated BA with first-class honours in English, French and Latin.

1900 – Isabel Margaret Fidler took up duties as tutor to the women students. In that year 62 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Arts. She became President of the University of Sydney Women's Association (Union) in 1903 and 1908, and President of the Women's Union 1915-21, 1923-25 and 1927-28. The Manning House reading room was named the Isabel Fidler Room in 1931.

1920 – 325 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Arts compared with 375 male undergraduate students.

From 1930 – female undergraduate students began to outnumber males (442 female, 429 male)

2010 – 6,194 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Arts, with 3,205 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Science 1882

1882 – the Faculty of Science was established, when government funding and a substantial bequest from John Henry Challis provided impetus for the University to expand. However, Science teaching in the University had begun within the Faculty of Arts in 1852 when the first three professors arrived.

1888 – Fanny Elizabeth Hunt was the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University:-

1894 – Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett graduated Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology and Biology, the first woman to graduate with honours in Science at the University.

1897 – Marion Charlotte Horton graduated Bachelor of Science, the University's third woman science graduate. She was subsequently recommended for the position of junior demonstrator in biology by the Professor of Biology. The appointment was rejected by the Senate Appointments Committee and no reason was given. Later, however, Miss Horton was told that it was because she was a woman and ' too. In 1904 the Department of Anatomy appointed two women as honorary demonstrators, but it was not until 1908 that a woman was employed on the academic staff and then only as a junior demonstrator:-

1900 – 4 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Science compared with 15 male undergraduate students.

1917 – Edna Dorothy Briggs (nee Sayce) who graduated Bachelor of Science was the first woman Physics graduate. Edna, who had topped the year in physics, went to see Professor Pollock about continuing in the subject. ... 'What was your first year exam result?' 'I came first.' 'Then, I don't suppose I can stop you':-

1920 – 95 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Science compared with 126 males.

2010 – 3,159 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Science, with 2,509 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Medicine 1883

1883 – the first year that students were accepted for undergraduate training in the Faculty of Medicine which began with one member of staff, Professor Thomas Peter Anderson Stuart, and six male students. On many occasions Professor Anderson Stuart, who was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 1883 to 1920, publicly voiced his opposition to women in medicine and his belief that they were unsuited to its study.

1885 – the Faculty was the first in Australia to admit women when it allowed Dagmar Berne to enrol in the third intake of 15 medical students. However, hostility towards her caused her to complete her degree in Edinburgh, returning to set up practice in Sydney’s Macquarie Street in 1895. In fact despite its being the first Medical School in Australia to admit women, the first Australian women medical graduates came from Melbourne and Adelaide – In 1891 Clare Stone and Margaret Whyte graduated from Melbourne and Laura Fowler from the University of Adelaide:-

1888 – Iza Coghlan enrolled in the 6th intake of students.

1889 – The new Medical School building opened.

1889 – Harriett Biffin and Grace Fairley Robinson (later Boelke) enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine. Grace was awarded the MacCormick prize for surgery in her third year and ranked first in the midwifery examination in her finals.

1893 – Iza Coghlan and Grace Fairley Robinson (later Boelke) were the first female Medicine graduates at the University. While Iza Coghlan had started a year earlier, Grace Robinson had completed the course without failing in any year. Their graduation, however, was completely ignored by the press. Grace was nominated for a position at the Hospital for Sick Children but, despite excellent references, her application was rejected: the objection was 'not against [Dr Robinson] as an individual but against the female doctor in the abstract'.

1898 – Ada Affleck, Harriett Biffin, Julia Carlile-Thomas and Alice Newton were the second group of women graduates from the Faculty of Medicine. They had begun at different times but all passed their finals in the same year. Dr Affleck and Dr Carlile-Thomas were later appointed Resident Medical Officers at the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children, making them the first women to secure positions on the staff of a public hospital in Sydney:-

1900 – 14 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Medicine compared with 174 male undergraduate students.

1900 – Lucy Gullett and Mabel Graham graduated MB ChM. Lucy Gullett was an important figure in the establishment of the Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children, and Mabel Graham graduated with Second Class Honours, the first woman to gain honours at graduation in Medicine:-

1904 – Constance Elizabeth D'Arcy graduated MB. As neither Sydney teaching hospitals would accept a woman, she did her residency at the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital, then in 1905 became resident medical officer at the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington. From 1919 to 1949 she represented the graduates on the Senate of the University of Sydney, the first woman to be elected, and was Deputy Chancellor from 1943 to 1946, also the first woman so elected.

1905 – Susannah O'Reilly was an honours graduate in Medicine and fourth in her year but was refused a residency at Sydney Hospital on the grounds that it had no suitable accommodation for women practitioners.

1906 – Margaret Harper graduated MB ChM and became the first Lecturer in the Diseases of the Newborn at Sydney University:-

1906 – the first 2 female prosectors were appointed: Mary Burfitt and Elizabeth Hamilton-Brown, who both went on to gain first-class honours at the Sydney Medical School. Mary Burfitt was appointed resident medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where an attempt was made unsuccessfully to curtail her treatment of males, and went on to become the first woman to become senior resident at the hospital:-

1906 – Jessie Aspinall graduated MB ChM and was appointed that year as the first female junior medical resident officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The Conjoint Board, however, refused confirmation and it was only after much agitation that the Board resolved that 'Dr Aspinall be appointed for this year, but that her appointment is not to be taken as a precedent'.

1910 – 11 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Medicine compared with 417 males.

1910 – Elsie Dalyell graduated MB ChM with First-Class Honours. She became the first woman to be appointed to the full-time academic staff of the Faculty of Medicine at Sydney University (as Demonstrator in Pathology):-

1930 – 44 female undergraduate students were enrolled in Medicine, and 376 males.

2010 – 1,745 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Medicine, with 1,297 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Law 1890

1890 – the Challis Bequest made it financially possible to appoint a Professor and Lecturer and to create a Law School. Pitt Cobbett was appointed to the first Chair of Law and became the first Dean of the Faculty, which marked the commencement of the Faculty of Law as we know it today. He would not accept a woman Law student while he was Dean (1890 - 1902).

1899 – the entry of Ada Evans - who had already graduated BA in 1894 - into Law was only made possible by the absence on leave of Professor Pitt Cobbett. She was the only woman Law graduate during his term as Dean.

1902 – Ada Evans was the first female Law graduate at the University. She waited 19 years before being admitted to the Bar in 1921 but never practised owing to poor health. No other women enrolled in Law until 1920:-

1918 – the Women’s Legal Status Act gave women the legal right to become lawyers.

1924 – the next women Law graduates were Marie Byles and Sibyl Enid Morrison (nee Gibb). On 2 June 1924 Sibyl Morrison was admitted to the New South Wales Bar and became the first woman to practise as a barrister in NSW. Marie Byles later became the first woman to practice in the jurisdiction:-

1937 – Jean Malor was the first woman to graduate in Law with first class honours, and was admitted to the bar the same year:-

• 2010 – 1,406 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Law, with 1,097 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Agriculture 1920

1920 – a separate Faculty of Agriculture was established with Professor Watt as the first Dean, although the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree been taught from 1911 when Agriculture was part of the Faculty of Science.

1921 – The first women Bachelor of Science in Agriculture graduates were Lorna Byrne (Hayter) and Margaret Ramsay (Brebner). Lorna said that, when she and three other women went to Professor Watt to enrol in agriculture, he warned them that all the students must go to practical farms, adding: 'I don't think you would want to do that, would you?" But they said, 'Yes we would":-

2010 – 201 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Agriculture, with 426 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Dentistry 1920

1904 – Annie Praed was the first woman to be awarded Sydney University's short-lived Licentiate in Dental Surgery.

1906 – Annie Praed and Margaret Estelle Barnes became the first women to graduate in Dentistry from an Australian university, with Annie topping her year. They were in the University of Sydney's inaugural batch of 13 graduands to be awarded the Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree.

1920 – a separate Faculty of Dentistry was established.

1938 – Annie Praed became the first woman in Australia to be awarded a Doctorate of Dental Science (University of Sydney).

2010 – 272 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Dentistry with 266 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Engineering 1920

1920 – the Faculty of Engineering was established.

1946 – Margaret Angas (later Hamer) was the first woman admitted to the Faculty. She had been the first woman admitted to the Faculty of Engineering at Adelaide where she studied for 2 years before coming to the University of Sydney in 1946 to specialise in aeronautics.

1948 – Margaret Angas (later Hamer) graduated Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering, the first woman to do so at the University. (She later said "I did the degree because I was keen on flying, but couldn't because of short sight. Then I did the stupid thing that we all did, got married and had children - so I never used the degree." 'The Age' 27 April 1977)

2003 – Sydney University Women in Engineering was established, becoming officially affiliated with the University of Sydney Union in 2004, to help assist and promote the role of women in engineering.

2010 – 908 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Engineering and Information Technologies with 3,483 male enrolments.

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Faculty of Veterinary Science 1920

1920 – a separate Faculty of Veterinary Science was established, although Veterinary Science was originally part of the Faculty of Science and its first intake of students was in 1910.

1930 – Veterinary Science admitted its first woman undergraduate, Anne Flashman:-

1931 – the second woman undergraduate was Patricia Littlejohn:-

1935 – Patricia Littlejohn was the first woman Veterinary Science graduate.

1936 – Anne Flashman graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Science.

1973 – Daria N Love was the first female Bachelor of veterinary Science graduate to obtain a PhD:-

1986 – for the first time numbers of female Veterinary Science graduates exceeded 50%.

1988 – Daria N Love was the first female Veterinary Science graduate to obtain a Doctor of Veterinary Science from the Faculty.

2010 – 820 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Veterinary Science with 284 male enrolments.

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LB