Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2010

WOMEN’S FIRSTS 1945

AIR VICE-MARSHALL JULIE HAMMER AM, CSC First female to join the RAAF General list First female squadron leader First woman in the Australian Defence Force to achieve starred rank Attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School from 1967 to 1969 JUSTICE MARGARET MCMURDO AC First Woman appointed to the District Court Bench in Queensland First woman to be appointed as president of an appeal court in Australia Attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School from 1967 to 1971 DR CHERRELL HIRST AO First woman to be appointed Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology First woman to be appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees at Brisbane Girls Grammar School Attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School from 1960 to 1963

2007 opening of the Cherrell Hirst Creative Learning Centre

the Board of Trustees; the first woman in the history of the School to hold this position. In 1998, she was awarded an Order of Australia, General Division for distinguished service to education and medicine. When Cherrell Hirst started accepting positions on a variety of business related and voluntary boards, she did not forget her medical background and her passion for women’s health. In 2005, she was asked by the government to conduct a review of the state’s maternity services which she did by travelling to different areas, particularly remote indigenous areas, rather than gain a city only perspective. Despite the seriousness of her intent, she found time also to indulge in cultural pursuits especially in the fields of opera, art, travel and French culture. In 2006, she retired as Chair of the Board of Trustees at Brisbane Girls Grammar School to focus on her emerging new professional life in financial services and fund management. An examination of Dr Hirst’s Speech Day comments, indicate that from 1996 to 2006 she remained steadfast in her commitment to the education of young women so that they could emerge from their schooling to take a responsible place in a challenging society: a line which was somewhat different to some of her male predecessors and from her own experiences at school. More than ever we need leaders in every aspect of society’s operations who value tolerance, learning, sharing rather than power, status and control and should those leaders not be Grammar girls. In choosing not to re-stand for election to the Board in 2006, Dr Hirst left many legacies, not the least of which were a deep sense of governance responsibility within the Board, a strong awareness of the importance of a mutually respectful and supportive working relationship with the Principal, and through her, the staff of the School, and a real focus on long term resource planning for the School. It was without hesitation, that the School’s newest and most lauded building would be named the Cherrell Hirst Creative Learning Centre – a multi-award winning, courageous vision for new flexible learning spaces anticipating next practice teaching and learning for the twenty-first century. In her tribute to the retiring Dr Hirst, the current Chair of the Board of Trustees, Ms Elizabeth Jameson said:

1955

1955

1955

DR ELIZABETH GRUNDY (WOODS) First female Rhodes Scholar in Queensland Attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School from 1968 to 1972

1960

ELIZABETH DATSON First woman to achieve the rank of Sea Captain on the Australian Shipping Line Attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School from 1973 to 1976

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