• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE4356

O’Reilly, Susannah Hennessy

  • Preferred name O'Reilly, Susie
(1881 – 1960)
  • Born 25 January 1881, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Died 18 June 1960, Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
  • Occupation Medical practitioner, Obstetrician

Summary

Susie O’Reilly was a popular family doctor and renowned as an obstetrician. She was co-founder of the New South Wales Association of Registered Medical Women in 1921 and became life governor of the Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children in 1959.

Details

Susie O’Reilly graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in 1903 and followed up with a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1905. Her application for a residential post at Sydney Hospital, made in January of that year, was rejected on the basis that there was no suitable accommodation for a female resident medical officer, a decision that caused much controversy in the local press.

Between 1905-07 she worked as the resident medical officer at Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne and the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington, Sydney. She joined her father’s medical practice in Pymble, Sydney in 1908.

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Archival resources

  • Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection
    • Dowell O'Reilly - Papers, 1884-1923, with additional family papers, 1877-1944

Published resources

Related entries


  • Related Organisations
    • Queen Victoria Hospital (1896 - 1977)
    • Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children (1925 - 1963)
  • Related Women
    • Gullett, Lucy Edith (1876 - 1949)