Patricia Selkirk (CONNELL) PhD
1960 - 1963
Scientist Terrestrial scientist Dr Patricia Selkirk was awarded the Australian Antarctic Medal in 2004. Patricia has been a member of 17 Antarctic expeditions since 1979, and has spent a total of 25 months in the harsh conditions of the Antarctic and sub Antarctic, particularly on Macquarie Island, the World Heritage listed site 1500 km south-east […]
Categories: Science & Medicine
Lindsey Fairfield SMITH BSc, PhD
1958 - 1961
Astronomer et al Lindsey Smith studied initially at Sydney University and obtained her Doctorate of Philosophy from the Australian National University. She pursued a distinguished career in astronomy research with positions at Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, the University of California, the University of Colorado, Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, University of Liege and Max […]
Categories: Science & Medicine
Jessie Mary Grey STREET, BA (08)
Feminist and Social Activist (1889-1970) JESSIE MARY GREY STREET, feminist and social activist, was born in 1889 at Ranchi, Chota Nagpur, India, daughter of Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston and Mabel Harriet (Ogilvie). The family moved to Australia in 1896 to take up residence at Yulgibar, Clarence River NSW. Jessie was educated at Wycombe Abbey School, […]
Categories: Activism
Dr Winifred Vere HOLE, MA Hon. PhD London
1941 - 1944
Sociologist and Author DR WINIFRED VERE HOLE was the only child of Ralph Vere Hole and Blanche Young, who had settled in the Coonamble district in the 1900s. For her first fourteen years, her formal education was from the Blackfriars Correspondence School. Vere had a passionate love of the outback, and was not terribly happy […]
Categories: Public Life
Hazel Claire WEEKES, M.B.E. BSc, DSc, MBBS
1922 - 1923
Medical Practitioner, Broadcaster on Anxiety Neuroses (1904-90) Dr. CLAIRE WEEKES came to College from Sydney Girls’ High School in 1922. She was awarded the Yaralla Scholarship and studied science. Her other gifts included a fine singing voice, considerable energy, and an outgoing personality which made her a popular member of the College community. She graduated […]
Categories: Science & Medicine
Julie White (ALSTON) BA
1974 - 1976
Born and educated in Orange, NSW, Julie came to Sydney University and Women’s College in 1974, where she studied for an Arts degree. She later attended the National Institute of Social Work in London, undertaking advanced study in community development. Julie is currently Manager, Macquarie Bank Foundation. Macquarie has provided support to community programs for […]
Lynn Wood MA MBA
1969
Recently reappointed to the Foreign Investment Review Board for a further 5 years, former student and College Council member Lynn Wood has lately attracted interest in the financial press for her “portfolio career.” Lynn’s work-and-life package encompasses a number of different jobs and clients, which gives her a high degree of variety and diversification. After […]
Categories: Finance
Ingrid PEARSON
1992
Ingrid Pearson BMus (Hons), PhD, DipEd, LTCL, LMusA is Deputy Head of the Graduate School at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London. Born in Newcastle, Australia, Ingrid began her clarinet studies at Newcastle Conservatorium. Ingrid lived at Women’s College in 1992 and graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Music Honours […]
Categories: Arts
Ann Felton (KENDALL)
1953 - 1956
After studying medicine at Sydney University, Ann Felton (KENDALL: 1953-56) was ‘discovered’ in 1958 and became one of the world’s top models, earning $1000 a week by 1960. Ann has had cause to revisit her modeling career this year with the publication of In Vogue Australia: 50 years of Australian Style. Her image appears multiple […]
Categories: Arts
Jane Fitzgerald SPRING BEc LLB
1985 - 1987
In October 2008 Jane Fitzgerald Spring was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the University for her services to rowing. For nearly two decades Jane has been an icon, an inspiration and an example to the University community of how to meet and triumph over adversity and face disability with courage, determination and intelligence. Jane Spring […]
Categories: Sport
Sally AULD
1990 - 1993
Banker, Cricketer In May 1999, Sally Auld was selected to represent the MCC in its first ever women’s fixture against a Surrey U21 side. As captain of the Oxford University Women’s Cricket Club in 2000, Sally enjoyed the honour of playing both for and against the MCC. A successful season culminated in a hard fought […]
Categories: Finance
Her Excellency Prof. Marie BASHIR AC CVO
1950 - 1955
Governor of New South Wales From Senior Student to Governor of New South Wales “When the suggestion was made to me… to begin with I was absolutely spellbound and speechless. Thinking about it, it seemed to me to be symbolic about the way our country is advancing in a sophisticated manner, that it could consider […]
Categories: Public Life, Science & Medicine
Anne BOYD
1964 - 1965
Professor of Music, Composer ‘When in 1996 I was awarded the AM in the Order of Australia, undoubtedly a career highlight, I was especially touched that it was ‘for services to music as a composer and educator’. These activities are, for me, intertwined: as Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Music in […]
Categories: Arts
Clare BURTON BA PhD
1961 - 1963
Anthropologist, expert on gender and race bias (1942-1998) DR CLARE BURTON, an international expert on gender and race bias, was one of Australia’s finest feminist intellectuals. She put her scholarship into action in senior public sector appointments in NSW, Queensland and Canberra. Clare graduated in Arts from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours in […]
Categories: Public Life
Sally Crossing (FLETCHER) BEc AM
1964 - 1965
Diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1995 and 2004, former Women’s College student and Council member Sally Crossing founded the Breast Cancer Action Group NSW in 1997. This group has 750 survivor members and provides a voice for people affected by breast cancer. Sally is also Chair of Cancer Voices NSW, a coalition of […]
Categories: Activism
Jane DIPLOCK BA (Hons) LLB DipEd Dip IntLaw
1968 - 1977
After leaving the Women’s College in 1977 Jane worked as a policy maker and a lawyer and she was recently the first woman to be elected as the chairman of the International Organisation of Securities Commission. In this role Jane is responsible for strengthening confidence in New Zealand’s capital markets locally and overseas and for […]
Ruth Lissant DOBSON OBE BA
1937 - 1939
Diplomat (1918-89) Ruth was educated at Malvern School, Mosman and at Frensham where her mother was housemistress. She was at the Women’s College from 1937-1939 and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1940. After a short stint in various jobs including as temporary secretary to the Principal of the Women’s College in 1941, she embarked on […]
Categories: Public Life
Susie Flook BA LLB (BALDWIN)
1968 - 1971
Susie Flook is Group General Counsel for The Body Shop International plc, based in the UK with responsibility for all legal matters on a global basis. The Body Shop produces skin and hair care products and accessories, which are sold worldwide mainly through a franchise system. The company trades in 60 countries and has over […]
Categories: Law
Rosemary Foot (ASHTON) AO BA
1954 - 1956
Politician, Board Member, Investor Rosemary participated fully in University life while a student at the Women’s College. The varied friendships she formed in the mid-fifties broadened her outlook after a strict country upbringing and being a boarder at Frensham, Mittagong. In 1960, Rosemary married old Pauline, Robert Foot. After their divorce, Rosemary and their daughters, […]
Categories: Public Life
Joan FREEMAN
Nuclear Physicist JOAN FREEMAN, a great Australian, a nuclear physicist who helped unlock some of the secrets of the universe, died 18 March 1998. Her story is outlined in her autobiography, A Passion for Physics, an engaging story of a woman achieving against the odds. She might have grown up to be a ballet dancer, […]
Categories: Science & Medicine
Grace JOHNSTON, Dip Massage, MBBS
1930 & 1941 - 1946
Medical Practitioner GRACE JOHNSTON was born in Sydney in 1906. Her father was Swedish, with Scottish connections and her mother was an Australian of English and Danish ancestry. As a child Grace learned to use tools in preference to playing with dolls, and so acquired skills which were to be of particular use in adult […]
Categories: Science & Medicine
Pauline Lyle-Smith BA LLB
1964 - 1968
Pauline graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Sydney and, after qualifying as a solicitor in NSW, practised law at Freehill, Hollingdale & Page (now Herbert, Smith Freehills) in Sydney for four years. She lived on campus at Women’s College for five years and then at International House […]
Categories: Law
Susan MacDONALD BArch MA
1981 - 1982
Susan Macdonald studied architecture at Sydney University and holds an MA in Conservation Studies from the University of York / ICCROM Rome. From 1988-98 Susan worked in the UK as a conservation architect, undertaking National Trust projects on buildings dating from 16th to 20th century, with highlights including Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge in Essex (c1500), […]
Categories: Engineering & Architecture
Wendy MACHIN BA MComm
1977-78
In an eleven-year parliamentary career that commenced at the age of 27 and ended in 1996, Wendy Machin represented the mid north coast of NSW and held numerous senior positions, culminating in the role of Minister for Consumer Affairs and Assistant Minister for Roads and Transport. Prior to this, she was Deputy Speaker for four […]
Categories: Public Life
Jane Hamilton MATHEWS LLB., Syd., LL. (Hon.) Wollongong Uni.
1958 - 1959
Judge JANE HAMILTON MATHEWS came to College direct from boarding school at the age of 17. At that time there was only one law school in New South Wales and very few female law students. Jane undertook a straight law course and graduated in 1962. Having completed her articles she was admitted as a solicitor […]
Categories: Law
Judith WRIGHT McKINNEY
1935 - 1936
Poet and Writer JUDITH WRIGHT was described in a 1972 ABC broadcast by fellow poet, A.D. Hope, as ‘Australia’s leading conservationist’ and was one of Australia’s greatest lyricists. She drew richly for her poetry, literally and figuratively, on her ‘blood’s country’, her family’s pastoral property ‘Wallamumbi’ on the New England tablelands where she spent her […]
Categories: Arts
Ann Moyal (HURLEY) AM BA
1943 - 1945
Ann Moyal has had an exhilarating life. A noted scholar of the history of Australian science and telecommunications, and a biographer, she began her career (after graduating in history with first class honours at Sydney University), as a personal research assistant to the famous British press lord, Lord Beaverbrook, joining him in the writing of […]
Categories: Arts
Ellice Maud NOSWORTHY, BArch
1919 - 1922
Architect (1897-1972) ELLICE MAUD NOSWORTHY was born in 1897, the second of four daughters. Her father was a shipping company executive and her mother came from a family of notable academics. She studied high school at Redlands in Neutral Bay and at the University of Sydney to pursue an Arts degree in 1917. In 1919, […]
Categories: Engineering & Architecture
Sally SAALFELD BA
1948 - 1950
Yachtsman (1929-98) SALLY SAALFELD enjoys the distinction of being the first woman to sail in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Sally was born in India where her father was in the British army. The family returned to Britain shortly after and Sally grew up in England until the outbreak of World War II. In […]
Categories: Sport
Connect with The Womens College online: