International Women's Day 2022

This display highlighted women ‘making history’ across the University.

The University of Adelaide has a long history of supporting the right of women to access higher education and to compete on equal terms with men. In 1881, the University Council was successful in persuading the British Government to recommend Queen Victoria approve the Letters Patent that would recognise degrees conferred on women in Adelaide. In this the University was the first of the Australian colonial universities, and second in the world after the University of London.

The University of Adelaide can claim several Australian firsts in women’s education. From its inception, regulations allowed women to matriculate, enrol and attend classes. The University graduated the first woman Bachelor of Science and the first woman surgeon (Edith Dornwell and Laura Fowler in 1885 and 1891 respectively), the first woman Doctor of Music (Ruby Davy, 1918) and made provision for the election of the first woman to a university governing body (Helen Mayo, 1914).

The International Women’s Day 2022 display featured material from across rare books & manuscripts and University Archives collections, showcasing women in:

• Arts
• Science
• Law
• Medicine
• Sports
• War-time
• On Dit
• Women’s Studies

A selection of the material displayed which is available here on Adelaide Connect can be found below.