You are here: Home / Senate / Senate online exhibitions / Students / early women students

Students at the University of Sydney

Early women students and graduates


The first students were admitted to the University of Sydney in 1852.

However it was not until 1881 that 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.

The first two women were admitted to the University in 1882, graduating Bachelor of Arts three years later.

Some professors however doubted the suitability of women 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, e.g. Law and Medicine.

Once enrolled, many early women students faced discrimination during their time at the University, from Professors and from male students, e.g. in Medicine.

Then, once they had graduated, many of these early women faced issues of limited employment opportunities and discrimination in the workplace, e.g. in Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Science.

However, by 1990 — just over a century after the first 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.



The first women undergraduates and graduates


Click on the links below for a snapshot and photos of the first University of Sydney women undergrduate students and graduates in the earliest faculties:


the early women
undergraduates
& graduates:

milestones & galleries  
                                            

 the first
women
undergraduates
                                                

the first
women
graduates  
                                             

 the
undergraduate
degrees
Agriculture  1917:

– Lorna Byrne 
– Margaret Ramsay
– Muriel Hutton
– Isabel Millar

 1921:

– Lorna Byrne 
– Margaret Brebner

 Bachelor of
Science in
Agriculture
      Architecture        1918:

– Leonore Lukin
– Beryl McLaughlin BSc
– Ellice Nosworthy
– Mary Sheffer

 1922:

– Leonore Lukin
– Beryl McLaughlin BSc
– Ellice Nosworthy

 Bachelor of Architecture
Arts   1882:

– Mary Brown 
– Isola Thompson  

 1885:

– Mary Brown 
– Isola Thompson   

 Bachelor of
Arts
Dentistry
 1905:

– Annie Praed LDS
– Margaret Barnes LDS

 1906:

– Annie Praed
– Margaret Barnes

 Bachelor of
Dental
Surgery

Economics

 1913:

– Edith Swain BA
– Winifred Lipscomb BA

 1914:

– Edith Swain BA

 Bachelor of
Economics
Engineering    1946:

– Margaret Angas

 1948:

– Margaret Angas

 Bachelor of
Engineering
Law   1889:

– Ada Evans BA

 1902:

– Ada Evans

 Bachelor of
Law
Medicine 1885:

– Dagmar Berne
    Arts I, 1884

 1893:

– Iza Coghlan
– Grace Robinson

 Bachelor of
Medicine,
Master of
Surgery

Pharmacy  
 1900:

– Louisa Wilson		 1901:

– Louisa Wilson 

Materia Medica
Science  1886:

– Fanny Hunt
    Arts I, 1884

 1888:

– Fanny Hunt

Bachelor of
Science 
Veterinary Science 1930:

– Ann Flashman 

 1935:

– Patricia Littlejohn

 Bachelor of
Veterinary
Science
Back to top

The life of the early women students


View photos and information about the life of the early women students:

Back to top

Related links


For more information, click on the links below:

Back to top