Fanny Elizabeth Hunt

Fanny Elizabeth Hunt (25 July 1863 - June 1941) was the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, Australia, graduating in 1888.[1][2][3] She was the founding head of Ipswich Girls' Grammar School.

Fanny Elizabeth Hunt
BornJuly 25, 1863
DiedJune 1941
NationalityAustralian
OccupationHeadteacher
EmployerIpswich Girls' Grammar School
Known forFirst woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney

Personal life

Hunt was born in Reading, England and was one of ten children of Margaret Morgan (1838-1937) and Edwin Hunt (1837-1895), a teacher who became the headmaster of the Randwick Orphanage School. The family moved to Australia in 1879.[1][4]

Education

She started her degree in the Faculty of Arts but in her second year enrolled in the Faculty of Science. She graduated in the Great Hall at Sydney University on Saturday 14 April 1888, becoming the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sydney. She was presented by Professor Liversidge to the Chancellor Sir William Manning who conferred the degree.[1]

Teaching career

She first taught botany at St Catherine's School, Waverley from 1888, brought in by then headmistress, Helen Phillips.[5] She was the first headmistress of Ipswich Girls' Grammar School, Queensland, from its opening in 1892 until 1901, being selected from a group of thirty applicants 'of unusual merit'.[6] One of the school's houses in named in her honour.[7] In 1903 she founded Girton College, a girls' boarding school in Toowoomba, which closed in 1910. The Toowoomba Preparatory School opened on its site in 1911.[8]

Professional memberships

Hunt was a member of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and a life member of the Linnean Society.[3]

References
  1. "Early women students". Sydney University.
  2. "Sydney University Commemoration". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XXXVII, no. 954. New South Wales, Australia. 21 April 1888. p. 27. Retrieved 18 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "EDUCATIONIST'S DEATH". The Courier-mail. No. 2424. Queensland, Australia. 11 June 1941. p. 15. Retrieved 18 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Nancy Vada Gibb (25 December 2014). "A Headmistress in the Family". Nancy Vada. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  5. Pullar, Helen (October 2018). "The Fanny Hunt Collection" (PDF). OGAPRESS: The Newsletter of the Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School Old Girls Association (Edition 30).
  6. "Girls' Grammar School". The Telegraph. No. 5, 884. Queensland, Australia. 26 August 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 18 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Heritage and Tradition". Ipswich Girls Grammar School. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  8. "GIRTON COLLEGE". Darling Downs Gazette. Vol. XLIV, no. 10, 746. Queensland, Australia. 11 February 1903. p. 2. Retrieved 18 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
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