Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 8
1900s
-1920s
The reputation grows
The international status of the University of Adelaide continued to
build during the early 1900s. In its 50th year in 1924, more than 100
degrees were conferred for the first time. They joined a graduate
community of some 1,450 people, many of whom had gone on
to positions of leadership locally, nationally and internationally.
The distinguished graduate list included Sir Douglas Mawson,
who led the world’s first scientifically oriented exploration of
Antarctica, while in 1915 William and Lawrence Bragg jointly won
the first of five Nobel prizes awarded to the University’s alumni.
The physical character of the campus was also changing.
Generous gifts resulted in many new buildings, including the
newly completed Elder Hall, the Darling Building (in honour of
Sir John Darling, Chair of BHP), and the Physics Building, gifted
by the State Government for the University’s Golden Jubilee.
Peter Waite’s bequest of his Urrbrae estate—handed over to
the University in 1923—was a gift of unprecedented magnitude
and marked the creation of one of Australia’s most celebrated
agricultural science research and teaching centres.
Pioneer of women’s
and children’s health
Helen Mayo was a remarkable woman in a professional and academic
world heavily dominated by men. She graduated from medicine in
1902 with distinction, becoming the University of Adelaide’s second
female medical graduate. With her friend, social worker Harriet
Stirling, she established her first clinic for mothers and babies in 1909
which later grew into the Mothers and Babies Health Association in
1927, serving the whole State. Dr Mayo was elected to the University
Council in 1914, serving until 1960. She died in 1967.
Various places bear her name in recognition of her enormous and
varied contribution, including the original University Mayo Refectory in
Union House, rooms at St Ann’s, Helen Mayo House for new mothers
with mental health problems at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital,
and the federal electorate of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills.
Today, the University’s Robinson Research Institute continues the
tradition of groundbreaking work in this area. The Institute comprises
internationally renowned researchers in human reproduction,
pregnancy and child health with a focus on the early stages of life
to improve the health and wellbeing of children and families across
generations, in Australia and around the world.
From the start
of her career,
Dr Mayo had
advocated the need
for educating new
mothers in looking
after their babies.
Dr Helen Mayo OBE
First female
Doctor of Music
Music was part of Ruby Davy’s life
from an early age. She began teaching
the subject at just 13 in her mother’s
Salisbury School of Music and graduated
from the Elder Conservatorium of Music
in 1907. She was a regular performer
and also taught from a studio at Allan’s
Music Shop in Rundle Street. In 1913, at
Dr Ruby Davy
the age of 30, Ruby began her Doctorate
of Music, studying violin, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn,
trumpet, trombone, kettle drums and other instruments of percussion.
She graduated as Australia’s first female Doctor of Music in 1918 and
went on to open a music school in Melbourne. Ruby died in 1949 and
left £300 to the University to provide a scholarship which survives
today as the Dr Ruby Davy Prize for Composition.
Icons of sporting
achievement
In 1910, the Governor of South
Australia Sir Day Bosanquet,
opened the University’s first
sporting grounds and facilities.
The University Oval, grandstand
pavilion and boat shed are icons
of sporting achievement of the
past century which were used by
many of the University’s greatest
sportsmen and women. Thirteen
benefactors donated £100 each
to pay for the new pavilion, while
a generous contribution of £750
from Robert Barr Smith led to the
construction of the boat shed.
Top: Sports Association grandstand
Bottom: Rowing Club
6 Lumen | Winter 2014
