Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 7
New Roseworthy building, 1885
University staff with Robert Barr Smith (centre), 1906
Milestones and achievements
Australia’s first
female 6FLHQFHgraduate
During the University’s 1885 Commencement
Ceremony, Edith Emily Dornwell made history
as the first Bachelor of Science graduate and first
female graduate. It was a landmark achievement
with Adelaide only the second university after
London to grant degrees to women. Edith’s academic
record was undeniably impressive—she was placed
in the first class and consistently performed ahead
of her mainly male counterparts. Chancellor Samuel
Way expressed enormous pride in her achievements
during his Commemoration Day speech:
In your distinguished
undergraduate career, and in
the manner in which you have
taken that degree, you have
Edith Emily Dornwell
not merely done honour to the
University, but you have vindicated the right
of your sex to compete, and to compete on
equal terms, with other undergraduates for the
honours and distinctions of the University.
1874
Dr Augustus Short, Bishop of
Adelaide, elected Vice-Chancellor
1876
Bachelor of Arts (BA) is the first
recognised degree. A Latin lecture
on 28 March 1876 marks the first
official lecture
1881
The University is the first in Australia,
and only the second in the world, to
admit women to academic courses
nearly 40 years before Oxford
1882
The first University in Australia to
receive royal ascent to grant degrees
in Science
1883
Roseworthy Agricultural
College founded
1884
First University in Australia to
establish a Chair of Music
1885
1891
The Faculty of Medicine established
1895
1896
Adelaide University Union founded
1897
The Elder Conservatorium of
Music is the first music school
of its type in Australia
1899
Library named Barr Smith
Library Collection
Samuel Way speaking about Edith Emily Dornwell
|e University
of Adelaide was
firmly on the
path to becoming
a world-class
institution.
Laura Fowler is the first female
graduate in Medicine and Surgery
William Henry Bragg, Elder Professor
of Mathematics and Experimental
Physics, takes the first X-ray images in
South Australia and the first in Australia
to use X-ray for medical purposes
First-year medical students, 1896
|e University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 5
