• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE0244

Blackwood, Margaret

  • Dame, DBE, MBE
(1909 – 1986)
  • Occupation Botanist, Geneticist, Servicewoman

Summary

Margaret Blackwood graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BSc in 1938 and MSc in 1940. During the Second World War she served with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force and then was granted an ex-service postgraduate scholarship for Cambridge, where she gained a PhD for her work in plant genetics. In 1951 Blackwood returned to Melbourne and was a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne until 1974. She was then elected a member of the University Council and in 1980 became the first female Deputy Chancellor. She held both these positions until her retirement in 1983. She was appointed as a Member of the British Empire in 1964 for work in botany and was appointed a Dame (Order of the British Empire – Dames Commander) for her services to education in 1980.

Events

  • 2041

    Commissioned WAAAF

  • 1942

    Commanding Officer at No 1 WAAAF Training Depot

  • 1942 - 1944

    Officer-in-charge, with rank of Squadran Officer, WAAAF Training

  • 1932 - 1933

    Senior science mistress at Lowther Hall CEGGS

  • 1934 - 1938

    Senior science mistress at Korowa CEGGS

  • 1938

    University of Melbourne demonstrator and Howitt Research Student

  • 1958 - 1959

    Carnegie Scholar for Cambridge University in England

  • 2041

    Joined Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) at inception as airwoman

  • 2046

    Discharged from Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force with the rank of Wing Officer

  • 1957 - 1958

    Australian Chairman of the Soroptimist International Association

  • 1945

    Staff Officer with WAAAF Western Area

  • 2001

    Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women

  • 2009

    Born daughter of Robert Leslie and Muriel Pearl (née Henry) Blackwood

  • 1947 - 1948

    Dean of Women, Mildura Branch, Melbourne University

  • 1961 - 1974

    Chairman of the Melbourne University Council and Founder Fellow of the Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne

  • 1975 - 1986

    Member of the Council of the University of Melbourne

  • 1939 - 1941

    Demonstrator and Caroline Kay Research Scholarship Plant Cytology and Genetics at the University of Melbourne

Archival resources

  • The University of Melbourne Archives
    • Blackwood, Margaret, Dame (1909-1986)
    • Blackwood, Margaret, Dame (1909-1986)
  • The Ian Potter Museum of Art
    • Dame Margaret Blackwood DBE, MBE
  • Australian War Memorial, Research Centre
    • Group portrait of four "original" WAAAF officers with the Director WAAAF Group Officer Clare Stevenson after a WAAAF Staff Officers conference at Air Force Headquarters, Victoria Barracks.
    • In the outdoors, the Director WAAAF, Group Officer Clare Stevenson, and a WAAAF Wing Officer conversing with WAAAF officers who conducted a four-day bivouac.

Published resources

Related entries


  • Membership
    • Lyceum Club (Melbourne) (1912 - )
    • RAAF Association (Vic. Division) - WAAAF Branch (1946 - )
    • Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific (SISWP)
  • Chair
    • University of Melbourne Women Graduates Centenary Committee (1983 - )
  • Related Organisations
    • Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) (1941 - 1947)
  • Related Concepts
    • Women and Botany