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.
When the School of Dentistry opened at the University of Sydney in 1901 offering a curriculum of three years leading to a Licence in Dentistry, the first 17 students included two women.
On this webpage:
- Milestones
- Gallery — In the early 1900s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1980s and today
Click on images for enlargement.
– View more information and photos about early Dentistry students.
Faculty of Dentistry 1920
Milestones
| 1901: | The School of Dentistry opened at the University of Sydney offering a curriculum of three years leading to a Licence in Dentistry. There were 17 students, including two women: Beatrice Larkin and Annie Praed. Larkins repeated Year 1, but did not continue the course and became a nurse. Praed was one of the first Bachelor of Dental Surgery graduates in 1906. |
| 1905: | The first women to be awarded the short-lived Licence in Dental Surgery were Annie Praed and Margaret (Madge) Barnes (later Maltby-Robinson). |
| A four year Bachelor of Dental Surgery course was introduced and special arrangements were made to permit students holding the Licence of Dentistry to be admitted to the degree after a year of further study. The degree guaranteed men and women the right to practise in dentistry. However, the prejudice against women entering the profession was very strong and had the effect of keeping numbers of women Dentistry students and graduates low for many years. | |
| 1906: | The first 13 candidates admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery included two women who became the first women to graduate in Dentistry from an Australian university – Annie Praed and Margaret (Madge) Barnes (later Maltby-Robinson). |
| 1920: | A separate Faculty of Dentistry was established. |
| 1938: | Annie Praed was the first woman in Australia to be awarded a Doctorate of Dental Science. |
| 1939: | The new Dental Hospital building in Chalmers Street, adjoining the old building, provided special accommodation for women dental students, and it was hoped that the better facilities would encourage more women to enrol. |
| 1941: | Helen Patison (later Cotton) graduated Bachelor of Dental Surgery with first class honours and was the first woman to win the University Medal for Dentistry. She also won Professor E S Wallace's prize for general proficiency throughout the course, the Leslie R Carroll Memorial Prize, Professor A J Arnott's prize for oral surgery, Dr H R Kemp's prize for conduction anaesthesia and Mr W Alan Grainger's prize for ceramics. |
| 1951: | Susan Hull was the first woman to qualify as Master of Dental Surgery. |
| 1963: | Doreen Musgrove (later Rouse) (BDS 1937) became the flrst pedodontist to be so registered in NSW and the first woman dental specialist in Australia. |
| 1970: | It was only in the 1970s that women began to enter Dentistry in visible numbers. |
| 2005: | Veronica Lambert (BDS 1982) received the 2005 Alumni Award for Achievement in Community. |
| 2012: | There were 256 women and 279 men enrolled in the Faculty as at 31 March. |
Gallery
In the early 1900s
Annie Praed (left) and Margaret Barnes (later Maltby-Robinson) with their male colleagues on the day they graduated Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 1906, image G3_224_1482, University of Sydney Archives. They were first two women Dentistry graduates.
Dulcie Skinner (later Barr) on left and Hazel Crow (later Newman) on right, both in Dentistry I, in the 1919 Faculty of Dentistry photograph, photo G3_224_1299, University of Sydney Archives. They both graduated Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 1923.
In the 1920s
Dulcie Skinner (later Barr) above and Hazel Crow (later Newman) were the first women to graduate in 1923, after 9 years absence of women Dentist graduates, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 1937, NLA. Dulcie took up her profession because her father was a dentist, and in 1937 was the only woman on the Dental Congress Commission and vice-chairman of the Dental Health Section of the Congress.
In the 1930s
 |
Joan Bates graduated BDS in 1934. In 1939 she replaced Dulcie Skinner as dentist at the Royal Alexandria Children's Hospital, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 1939, National Library of Australia |
 |
Doreen Musgrove (later Rouse) graduated BDS in 1937. She became the flrst pedodontist to be so registered in NSW and the first woman dental specialist in Australia, photo G3/224/2126, University Archives. |
 |
| Women Dentistry students, from left: June Allen (BDS 1939), Joan Groundwater (BDS '39), Ellice Weir (BDS '43), Roma Ryan, Rosslyn Griffiths (BDS '40), Eila Bruce (BDS '40), Elizabeth Detrich, Joan Brooks & Doreen Musgrove (later Rouse) (BDS '37) (seated middle) acted as registrars on the first day of the 90th Australian Dental Congress at the University 16-20 August 1937 and would guide visitors / attend functions, photo, G3/224/2126, University of Sydney Archives. |
Annie Praed, the first woman in Australia to gain a Doctorate of Dental Science, in 1937, photo from 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 12 August 1937, National Library of Australia.
Rosslyn Griffiths (left) and Eila Bruce (right), the two women students in Third Year Dentistry in 1939, photo G3_224_2127, University of Sydney Archives. They both graduated Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 1940.
In the 1940s
 |
Helen Patison (later Cotton) |
Mrs Barbara Davidson (BDS 1944) went to New Guinea in 1947 to take part in a Commonwealth Nutrition survey and trained a native, Nanki, as a dental technician. She is pictured above testing saliva samples at Kiriwena, New Guinea, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 29 June 1966, National Library of Australia.
In the 1950s
Susan Hull (later Burns) (MDS 1951), Norma Corday and Shirley Stanley (later Jolly) (BDS 1950) were members of the Dental Ball committee which was organising the annual ball to be held at the Trocadero on 6 July 1950, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 June 1950, National Library of Australia.
 |
Susan Hull (later Burnes) graduated Master of Dental Surgery on 19 May 1951. She was the first woman to do so, photo, 'The Sunday Herald', 20 May 1951, National Library of Australia. Susan was a Teaching Fellow on the staff of the Dental Hospital and specialised in children's dentistry. |
Members of the Sydney University Dental Undergraduates Association planning the 1952 Christmas barbecue: Peggy Roche (BDS 1954), Trixie McGirr (later Gardner) (BDS 1954), Mrs John Milton and Barbara Murphy (BDS 1953), photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 November 1952, National Library of Australia.
 |
Trixie McGirr (later Gardner) graduated BDS on on 29 January 1954, photo, 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 28 January 1954, NLA. Trixie set up a practice with her husband Kevin (BDS 1954) in London, & in 2007 became Honorary Fellow of the University of Sydney. |
 |
Renate Raubitschek graduated BDS on on 29 January 1954, photo, 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 21 January 1954, National Library of Australia. She planned to specialise in pedidenture, as did another graduate, Susan Milton. |
 |
Margaret Roche graduated BDS on on 29 January 1954, photo, 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 28 January 1954, NLA. The first dental graduate from Sancta Sophia College, she was on the staff of Sydney Dental Hospital. |
In the 1980s
Veronica Lambert graduated Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 1982. She received the University's 2005 Alumni Award for Achievement in Community in recognition of her selfless and courageous work as a forensic dentist, photo, copyright Liz Cartwright.
Today
The Chancellor and Jacinda Matthews, Bachelor of Oral Health graduate in April 2012, photo, University of Sydney News ... more.
Information sources
- University of Sydney Calendar Archive
- National Library of Australia historic newspapers
Lis Bergmann, 2013