Violet Plummer
Violet May Plummer (8 July 1873 – 17 June 1962) was a South Australian medical doctor, the first woman to graduate in medicine from the University of Adelaide, and in 1900 the first woman doctor to practise in Adelaide.
History
Violet was born in Camperdown, New South Wales a daughter of schoolmaster Isaac Arthur Plummer (1848–1905). They moved to Wallaroo, South Australia, where Isaac began as headmaster of Wallaroo Mines school 1878, then at his request transferred to Wallaroo Bay. He was moved to Gawler in 1880, Lefevre's Peninsula in 1887, and Norwood, South Australia|Norwood]] in 1889, before being appointed Inspector of Schools in 1891. He was an enthusiastic member of the South Australian Volunteer force, with a commission as Major.
Violet began at the Advanced School for Girls in 1887 after winning a bursary,[1] She was an apt student and completed the medical course offered by the University of Adelaide in 1897 and headed for Melbourne to study for Bachelor of Medicine, which was not available in Adelaide at that time. A notable fellow student following the same trajectory was Frederic John Chapple,[2] and it was possibly through this connection that she was to meet his sister Phoebe Chapple, with whom she was to have a lifelong friendship and professional relationship.
She was a co-founder of the South Australian Women's Medical Association in 1928, and served as president in 1928 and 1929. Her residence until 1927 was at North Terrace, two doors east of Charles Street, the top floor of which for a time served as the home of the Adelaide Lyceum Club, of which she was a longtime member.[3] When she sold the building in 1927, the club moved to 200 North Terrace.
In 1881, the University of Adelaide had been the first Australian university to admit women to academic courses, and
She encouraged Phoebe Chapple to study medicine.
In the 1930s, a group of women graduates, which included Violet, Dr. Helen Mayo, Dr. Constance Finlayson, and Pauline Grenfell Price,[4] met to solve the longstanding problem of accommodation for country and interstate female students. After being approached by Violet, Sidney Wilcox ( –1942) of the wool brokers Wilcox, Mofflin[5] gave ₤5000 and bequeathed his house on Brougham Place, North Adelaide to the University so that a residential college for women similar to St Mark's College might be established. St. Ann's College was officially opened with sixteen residential students in 1947, much of the delay being attributable to the War.[6]
References
- ^ "Bursaries". South Australian Register. Vol. LI, , no. 12, 516. South Australia. 24 December 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 19 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Successful Adelaide Students". The Express And Telegraph. Vol. XXXIV, , no. 10, 209. South Australia. 6 November 1897. p. 4. Retrieved 19 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "The Lyceum Club". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXXIX, , no. 26, 170. South Australia. 11 November 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 19 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Pauline married Rupert Brook Lewis (1918–2009), son of Essington Lewis)
- ^ "Death Of Mr. Sidney Wilcox". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 2 February 1942. p. 8. Retrieved 19 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ David Ellis (December 2007). "Adelaidean: 60 years of inspiring students". University of Adelaide. Retrieved 19 May 2016.