LUMEN Summer 2019 - Flipbook - Page 3
ViceChancellor’s
Welcome
Our University has a history of excellence. We are
associated with five Nobel Prize winners, the first
Australian-born NASA astronaut, polar explorers
and history-making pioneers.
Perhaps less well known, is our strong history of
inclusion: we were the first university in Australia
and among the first in the world to admit women to
academic courses.
The University has a long history of high-achieving
and pioneering women among its alumni, women
who have led the way in many sectors of our society.
Among them is the first female Prime Minister
of Australia, the Hon. Julia Gillard AC. We are
immensely proud of her contribution to this country
as Prime Minister and ongoing service in leadership
in education, gender equality and mental health.
We also have remarkable Indigenous women:
Rebecca Richards and Dr Claudia Paul, Australia’s
first and third Indigenous Rhodes Scholars; law
graduates including Professor Irene Watson, our first
Indigenous law graduate and Andrea Mason OAM,
who is a leader in social change – they continue to
make a significant impact by bringing Indigenous
perspectives to law and policy reform.
Graduates like Dame Roma Mitchell our first female
QC, Governor and Chancellor; Edith Dornwell,
the first woman in Australia to graduate with a
science degree; the Hon. Catherine Branson AC
QC, Australia’s first Crown Solicitor; and the Hon.
Vickie Chapman MP, the state’s first female Deputy
Premier and Attorney General – their stories inspire
us all. They shine a light on this University’s values
– of excellence, of leadership, of contribution to
society – and of a university that was founded on the
premise of providing opportunities for all.
As part of the 125th anniversary of women’s
suffrage in South Australia, we are celebrating the
achievements of these and other women associated
with the University with a series of banners across
our North Terrace campus.
To further mark the anniversary, this edition of
lumen highlights some of many female alumni
demonstrating excellence – pioneers in science,
politics, arts, law, wine, medicine and media. We are
incredibly fortunate to have alumni of this calibre in
our University community, and we thank them for
their contributions to our University and to society.
Enjoy reading their stories.
ALUMNI MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2019
01
