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.
Established in 1920, the Faculty of Veterinary Science admitted its first woman undergraduate in 1930, twenty years after the first intake of Veterinary Science students.
On this webpage:
- Milestones
- Gallery — In the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and today
Click on images for enlargement.
– View more information and photos about early Veterinary Science students.
Faculty of Veterinary Science 1920
Milestones
| 1910: | Veterinary Science, then part of the Faculty of Science, had its first intake of students. |
| 1920: | A separate Faculty of Veterinary Science was established. |
| 1930: | Ann Flashman (later Rylah) was the first woman undergraduate admitted into Veterinary Science. |
| From the start, women received strong encouragement and support from Professor Stewart, and many other members of the staff to join and complete the course. The prejudices that they were to encounter were more from their peers and from the public they were to serve These prejudices were not to be short-lived and were partly responsible for directing the early female veterinary graduates towards teaching. (5) | |
| 1931: | Patricia Littlejohn (later Abbott) was the second woman Veterinary Science undergraduate. |
| 1935: | Patricia Littlejohn (later Abbott) was the first woman to graduate Bachelor of Veterinary Science. |
| 1936: | Ann Flashman (later Rylah) was the second woman Veterinary Science graduate, along with 9 male graduates. |
| 1949: | Barbara Smith became the first woman to graduate BVSc with honours (Class II). |
| 1969: | Daria Love was the first woman to graduate BVSc with First Class Honours and the University Medal. |
| 1973: | Daria Love was the first woman to gain the Doctor of Philosphy in the Faculty. |
| 1986: | For the first time numbers of female Veterinary Science graduates exceeded 50%. |
| 1988: | Dr Daria Love was the first woman to gain the Doctor of Veterinary Science at the University. |
| 2012: | There were 890 women and 310 men student enrolments in the Faculty as at 31 March. |
Gallery
In the 1930s
Ann Flashman (later Rylah) was the first woman Veterinary Science student in 1930, photo, Faculty of Veterinary Science website.
Patricia Littlejohn (later Abbott) was first woman to graduate Bachelor of Veterinary Science, in 1935, photo, Faculty of Veterinary Science website. She is pictured here at Berry Training Farm.
Ann Flashman (later Rylah) graduated in 1936, the second woman BVSc graduate, and was appointed veterinary officer to the Dogs Home and Animal Hospital in North Melbourne, photo, The Argus, 14 January 1936, National Library of Australia. On her marriage in 1937 she started her own practice.
A slightly later photo of Ann Flashman working at the Dogs Home and Animal Hospital in North Melbourne, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 8 February 1936, National Library of Australia.
Women Veterinary students' float in the 1937 Commem Day procession, photo, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Digital order number: Hood_14981h.
The final year students in 1938, with Kathleen Raymond (far left, third row) and Kathleen Farr (later Walker) (far right, third row) the only women graduates, photo, Centaur 1938. Kathleen Raymond became a Demonstrator in Veterinary Anatomy, and for a period a Junior House Surgeon. She also received the Walter and Eliza Hall Veterinary Science Research Fellowship for 1939.
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| Kathleen Farr (later Walker), who graduated BVSc in 1938, being congratulated by the Vice- Chancellor Dr Wallace, in 1938, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 December 1938, National Library of Australia. |
Kathleen Farr (later Walker) (BVSc 1938) in 1942, veterinary surgeon at the North Melbourne Animal Welfare League Hospital, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 3 October 1942, National Library of Australia. |
Noela Bennett & Alice Thorburn (Agriculture) and Gwen Griffith (Veterinary Science - BVSc in 1940) at a practical demonstration - studying the points of a pig - at Queensland's Gattan College in 1938, photo, The Courier-Mail, 15 January 1938, National Library of Australia.
Gwen Griffith (BVSc 1940) attended Grattan College in Queensland in 1938 with 6 other University students to undertake a practical course in agriculture and veterinary science. She is pictured above making a haystack, photo, The Courier-Mail, 15 January 1938, National Library of Australia.
Dorothy Arnott (later Scamps), who graduated BVSc in 1938, is pictured above (left) with her fiance Pierre Scamps and his sister Ginette at a Palm Beach dance held on 7 July 1938, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 July 1938, National Library of Australila. She became a Demonstrator in Veterinary Anatomy.
In the 1940s
Elizabeth Harvey graduated BVSc in 1940. She is pictured on the left in 1952, as surgeon-vet, in the X-ray room of the Lort Smith Hospital for Sick Animals at North Melbourne, operating the machine, helped by Miss Van Muller, photo, The Argus, 19 December 1952, National Library of Australia.
Virginia Osborne graduated BVSc in 1941, 1950 photo G3_224_2094, University of Sydney Archives. She became a Demonstrator in Veterinary Anatomy in the Faculty until 1947, then a Teaching Fellow, a permanent Lecturer in 1952 and continued teaching until her retirement from the University as an Associate Professor in 1982. She was awarded the honorary degree of Master of Veterinary Science by the University in 1983.
Vet students relaxing at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1947. Left, Alison Kyle, 3rd year vet student at Sydney University and Pat Yardley, 4th year student. Both were from New Zealand and were looking after stud cattle from Victoria, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 12 April 1947, National Library of Australia.
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Nancy Wickham graduated BVetSc in 1944. She became a Demonstrator in Veterinary Pathology & Bacteriology and a Lecturer in the same subject in 1952. She gained a MVSc at the University of Liverpool and in 1958 became one of the first private veterinary pathologists in Sydney, photo, Centaur 1944-45. |
Beryl Bott (later Hazard) graduated BVSc in 1948. She later formed a partnership with her husband in a veterinary practice and hospital at Caringbah, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1953, National Library of Australia. While Mrs Haszard looked after the hospital and the smaller animals brought in by their owners, her husband visited horse, cattle and poultry patients.
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Barbara Smith, the first woman to be awarded New Zealand's Veterinary Services Council bursary to study Veterinary Science at Sydney University, became the first woman to graduate BVSc with honours (Class II), in 1949, photo, Centaur 1948. |
Jenifer Edols (later Whitecross) graduated BVSc in 1949. She worked in private practices in Australia as well as for the British Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries before returning to the Faculty in 1968 as its Graduate Assistant & Assistant to the Dean. She was one of the first women to be President of a Division of the AVA & the first woman to be made a Fellow of the AVA, photo c1980, 'One hundred years'.
In the 1950s
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Patricia Gordon graduated BVSc in 1950, and set up her practice in Queensland in 1951. She was one of only two women among Queensland's 138 registered vets, and the only practising woman vet. Most of her work consisted of taking TB tests of dairy cattle, and she was the official veterinary surgeon for Oxenford Race Club and for the Southport and Capalaba Coursing Clubs, photo, Queensland Country Life, 13 November 1952, National Library of Australia |
There were 24 women students in the Faculty in 1951 including – back: Jill Clout, Joyce Haneman, Margot McKinney, Pat Williams, Janet MacCallum & Jean Kater; middle: Heather Joyce, Patricia Wilkinson, Dorothy Edmonstone, Isabel Gant, Elaine Edmonstone, Loretta Leedham & Margaret Wilson; and front: Jean Wootton, Judith Cahn, Jan Caterson, Barbara Wilhelm, Delores Ferguson & Susan Potter, photo, Centaur 1951.
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Jean Kater graduated BVSc with Second Class Honours in 1953, and was already working as a teaching fellow in the Faculty, photo, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1953, National Library of Australia. |
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Elaine Edmonstone graduated BVSc with Second Class Honours on 24 January 1954, photo, The Sun-Herald, 24 January 1954, National Library of Australia. |
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Robin Harbutt (centre) came second and Dianna Swan (right) came 3rd in the Farr Memorial Prize for Equitation, for 1957, photo, Centaur 1958. Established in 1941 by a gift of 50 pounds from Kathleen Farr for a prize in memory of her parents, it was awarded to the first-year Veterinary Science student who showed the greatest proficiency in equine husbandry.
The 1958 Veterinary Science women's hockey team: Dianna Swan, Margery Carter's boots, Dian Johnston, Judith Todd, Margot Archer, Mary-Rose Jenkyns, Mae Kirkwood, Donna Collings, Robin Harbutt and Heather Templeton, photo, Centaur, 1958.
Mary Rose Jenkyns (left) came first and Donna Collings (right) came 3rd in the Farr Memorial Prize for Equitation, for 1958, photo, Centaur 1959.
In the 1960s
Women Veterinary Science students in 1960, photo, Centaur 1960. Sitting: Marilyn Mattes (Year I), Gail Morgan (Year II), Anne Lewis (Year I), Kim Putney (Year I), Toni Duesbury (Year II) and Helen Martin (Year I). Standing: Judy, Sandra Donalson (Year I), Robin Harbutt (Year 5) and Deanne.
Julie Yaeger (right), 1st year Veterinary Science student at the University, and Christine Stewart, 3rd year Arts student, co-authored the teenage novel "Six Horses and a Caravan" which had just been published, photo, The Australian Women's Weekly, 25 November 1964, National Library of Australia.
In the 1980s
This group of 39 women received their Bachelor of Veterinary Science degrees in 1987, and for the second year in succession, the number of female graduates in the University outnumbered male graduates, photo, University of Sydney Annual Report 1987.
Daria Love (BVSc Hons I and the University Medal 1969) became the first woman to gain the Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty, in 1973, and the Doctor of Veterinary Science, in 1988, photo, Faculty of Veterinary Science website.
The main purpose of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital was the clinical teaching of Veterinary Science students who were present in the Hospital for most of the year. Pictured above is fourth year student Annette Miller conducting a clinical examination of a minature horse at the Hospital, photo, University of Sydney Annual Report 1988.
In the 1990s
Dr Susan Hemsley (MVSc) was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy through the Faculty of Veterinary Science in 1997, photo, 'One hundred years'. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty.
Today
Elizabeth Arnott graduated BVSc in 2003 & is now a PhD student in the Faculty. She began her veterinary career as a mixed animal practitioner on the mid north coast of NSW. After a year of working in the UK she took a veterinary position in Tamworth focusing on small animal medicine. Liz achieved a masters degree in small animal practice from Murdoch University and membership to the Australian College of Veterinary scientists in 2011, photo, Faculty Research Report 2012.
Camilla Whittington (BScAgr Hons I & University Medal 2007), a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, won a 2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to study the genetic components of mammal venom at the Washington University Genome Sequencing Centre. She subsequently gained her PhD in 2011, photo, Faculty Research Report, 2008-2010.
Katrina Morris graduated BVSc with the University Medal in 2009. Now a PhD student, she is part of the tasmanian devil facial tumour disease research team.
Kate Hartcher graduated Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience with honours in 2010 & was awarded the Poultry Research Foundation Prize in Animal Science. With a strong interest in animal behaviour and welfare science, Kate hopes to pursue a career in this area, in particular related to livestock production. In February 2012 Kate was awarded a scholarship from the Australian Poultry CRC to undertake a Masters by Research degree, photo, Faculty Research Report 2012.
Information sources
- University of Sydney Calendar Archive
- National Library of Australia historic newspapers
- 'Patricia K Littlejohn BVSc', by Robin Giesecke
- The Faculty's historical timeline
- 'Women in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, the University of Sydney - The early years', by Paul canfield and Jennifer Edols, in the Australian Veterinary History Record, July 1999.
- 'One hundred years: the school at the foot of the hill', by Paul Canfield, Honorary Faculty Archivist
- Faculty of Veterinary Science Research Reports
- "Centaur", the Journal of the Sydney University Veterinary Society
Lis Bergmann, 2013