LUMEN Summer 2019 - Flipbook - Page 4
Leading lady
Vickie Chapman leads the way for
generations of women to come.
STORY BY
MICHAELA MCGRATH
2
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
A
t 16 years old, Vickie Chapman’s life was “at a
crossroad, [where] you either marry the boy next
door or you have the chance to go onto an
education in Adelaide.”
Up until then, the now-Deputy Premier and Attorney-General
of South Australia had enjoyed an “idyllic life” on Kangaroo
Island, filled with weekend sports, fishing and farm work.
Her country upbringing instilled a strong work ethic and a
fierce sense of South Australian pride.
Ahead of her final year of high school, she crossed Backstairs
Passage to complete her secondary studies at the newly
merged Pembroke School and later studied law at the
University of Adelaide.
She credits her pursuit of education to the women on the
Island. “We were raised by my father so someone had to tell
him that we had a chance to have an education,”
she explained.
“I think the assumption is when you grow up in
the country and you’re female and you’ve got a brother, that
farming interests would transfer to the boys and you find
something else to do.”
