The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Anna Bage was a talented scientist who worked her way through the junior ranks of the Department of Biology at the University of Melbourne to became a forerunner of women in public life in Queensland to where she moved in 1914 to take up the position of lecturer in charge of biology in 1913. In 1914 she became principal of the Women’s College, a position she held for the next 32 years. She was committed to the cause of encouraging women to become tertiary educated and travelled widely throughout Queensland to promote her college to rural communities. She was a member of many women’s interest groups, and played a lead rolein the formation of the Queensland Women Graduates’ Association (later the Queensland Association of University Women). She was president of the Australian Federation of University Women in 1928-29.

Anna Bage’s interests were many and varied. A nature lover, patron of the arts and motoring enthusiast, Bage was also a member of several women’s sporting associations. She managed the first hockey team in Australia to travel interstate, from Melbourne to Adelaide in 1908, and was president of the Queensland Women’s Hockey Association in 1925-31.

She was appointed OBE – Officer of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – 12 June 1941 for public service.

Events

• 1914 - 1946

  Principal of the Women’s College at the University of Queensland

• 1905

  Graduated BSc from the University of Melbourne

• 1906

  Graduated MSc with second-class honours from the University of Melbourne

• 1906

  Final honour scholarship in Biology

• 1907

  Awarded the McBain Research Scholarship

• 1908

  Awarded the Victorian Government Research Scholarship

• 1910 - 1911

  Research student at King’s College, London

• 1906 - 1909

  Junior demonstrator in biology at the University of Melbourne

• 1912

  Senior demonstrator in biology at the University of Melbourne

• 1913

  Senior lecturer in biology at the University of Queensland

• 1917

  Member of the National Council of Women of Queensland Recruiting committee

• 1915

  President of the Field Naturalists’ Club

• 1916

  President of the Women’s Club, Brisbane

• 1922 - 1923

  President of the Lyceum Club, Brisbane

• 1923 - 1949

  Member of the Senate at the University of Queensland

• 1928 - 1929

  President of the Australian Federation of University Women

• 1925 - 1931

  President of the Queensland Women’s Hockey Association

• 1926

  Substitute delegate to the League of Nations Assembly, Geneva

• 1938

  Substitute delegate to the League of Nations Assembly, Geneva

• 1939 - 1945

  President of the Women of the University’s War Work Group at the University of Queensland

• 2041

  Appointed Office to the Order of the British Empire

• 2051

  Conferred an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of Queensland

• 1914 - 1918

  President of the Women of the University’s War Work Group at the University of Queensland