Students at the University of Sydney
Early 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.
The Faculty of Law as we know it today commenced in 1890. The first woman student was admitted in 1899, graduating in 1899, but the next women Law graduates were not until 1924.
On this webpage:
- Milestones
- Gallery — In the early 1900s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and today
Click on images for enlargement.
– View more information and photos about early Law students.
Faculty of Law 1890
Milestones
| 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. He tried to persuade her to leave the Law School, suggesting that she lacked the physique and should do medicine instead. |
| 1902: | The first female Law graduate at the University was Ada Evans. 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 Mrs Sibyl Morrison (nee Gibbs and later Greenwell), who was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 2 June 1924 and became the first woman to practise as a barrister in NSW. |
| Their time at the University had been made difficult by the behaviour of the male students who caused noisy disruption in their classes, and by the intolerance of the lecturing staff. | |
| 1934: | Olga Sangwell BA was the first woman to graduate in Law with honours (Second Class). |
| 1936: | Jean Malor (later Mullin) was the first woman at the University to top her year in Law (Law III). |
| 1937: | Jean Malor (later Mullin) was the first woman to graduate in Law with First Class Honours. |
| 1947: | Women law students gained admission for the first time to the annual Law dinner. |
| 1955: | Elizabeth Evatt was the first woman at the University to receive the University Medal in Law when she graduated LLB with First Class Honours. |
| 2012: | 1,453 female full-time and part-time students were enrolled in Law, with 1,186 male enrolments. |
Gallery
In the early 1900s
Ada Evans The first female Law graduate at the University, in 1902, photo, 'Australian Town and Country Journal', 26 April 1902.
In the 1920s
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Marie Byles was one of the next two women Law graduates, in 1924, photo, 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 30 May 1924, National Library of Australia. |
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Mrs Sybil Morrison (nee Gibbs, later Greenwell) was the other woman Law graduate in 1924, photo, 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 30 May 1924, National Library of Australia. She was admitted to the NSW Bar that year, where she was the first woman to practise as a barrister in NSW. |
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Elaine Shorter graduated LLB in 1926, photo, Sydney Morning Herald, National library of Australia. |
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Mrs Sibyl Morrrison (nee Gibbs, and later Greenwell) (LLB 1924) as a barrister, photo G3_224_1331, University of Sydney Archives.
In the 1930s
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Olga Sangwell was the first woman to graduate in Law with honours (Second Class), in 1934, photo from 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 27 March 1934, National Library of Australia. |
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Neridah Cohen was the only woman to graduate in Law in 1935, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 1935, National Library of Australia. |
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Jean Malor (later Mullin) was the first woman to graduate in Law with First Class Honours, in 1937, photo, SMH 28 August 1937, NLA Newspapers. |
Women medical and law students in the 1937 Commem Day procession, photo, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Digital order number: hood_14980.
In the 1940s
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Mrs Sibyl Greenwell |
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Mrs Beatrice Bateman (nee McGirr) graduated LLB in 1942, the first woman to hold both the MA & LLB, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 31 January 1942, NLA. She was the only woman in her group when she was admitted to the Bar in 1942. She rarely practised because of family commitments - 7 children - but continued her interest in law & law reform. View WBF video |
Peggy Hickson, Gina Christie, Patricia Oldfield & Moya Browning assisted the committee of the Law Society to organise the Law Ball to be held at the Trocadero on 25 July 1946. Miss Christie was a recent graduate while the others were still students. Invitations to the ball were in the form of a statement of claim in the High Court of Levity, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 June 1946, National Library of Australia.
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Marie Kinsella (later Sexton) |
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June Robinson graduated LLB in 1949, photo, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 1949, National Library of Australia |
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Marie Thomas graduated LLB in 1949, photo, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 1949, National Library of Australia |
In the 1950s
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The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC |
In the 1960s
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The Hon Mahla Pearlman AO |
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The Hon Mary Gaudron QC |
In the 1970s
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The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC, who graduated LLB in 1979, has been a Justice of the High Court of Australia since 2009. She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2012 for eminent service to the judiciary and to the law through leadership in criminal law reform and public policy development, to judicial administration, and as an advocate for the economically and socially disadvantaged, photo, copyright Memento Photography. |
In the 1980s
Jeni Klugman, BEc graduate and final year Law student, became the first woman NSW Rhodes Scholar, in 1988. She would study for a Bachelor of Civil Laws at Oxford in October 1988, photo from 'The Gazette', December 1987. Today she is a distinguished international economist.
In the 1990s
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The Hon Jennifer Boland AM |
Today
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Mary Macken (LLB 1985, LLM 2003), President of the Law Society of NSW in 2010, was awarded the Order of Legion d’Honneur in Noumea in 2012 in recognition of her work in promoting and achieving a close relationship between the Law Society and the French legal system and bar, photo, Faculty website. |
The Hon Justice Margaret Beazley AO (LLB 1974, LLD 2008) has been appointed President of the NSW Court of Appeal in 2013, the first woman appointed to the role, photo, copyright Memento Photography.
Information sources
- University of Sydney Calendar Archive
- National Library of Australia historic newspapers
- Swarming through the gates, by Fiona Carruthers
- The first women graduates, by Lee Jobling
- Trim, Tort and Terrific, by Anabel Dean
Lis Bergmann, 2013