Una Porter

Last updated
Una Porter

CBE
Born
Una Beatrice Cato

(1900-10-17)17 October 1900
Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia
Died24 June 1996(1996-06-24) (aged 95)
East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)clinical psychiatrist, philanthropist, author

Una Porter CBE (1900-1996) was an Australian psychiatrist and philanthropist. As senior psychiatrist at Queen Victoria Hospital, she established their first clinic of psychiatry. She was active in the Australian Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), and served as world president from 1963 to 1967. She was appointed an officer in the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1960, [1] and elevated to CBE on 1 January 1968. [2]

Contents

Biography

Early life and education

Porter was born Una Beatrice Cato on 17 October 1900, in Hawthorne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. [3] Her parents were Frederick John Cato and Frances "Fanny" Gertrude Cato, née Bethune. Una was the youngest of eight children. [4] Her father was a successful merchant who ran the successful grocery chain Moran & Cato with his cousin Thomas Moran. [5] He was also a devoted Methodist, and a lay leader within the church. A generous philanthropist, he contributed to many Methodist charitable activities. [5]

Despite being raised in an affluent family, Porter's childhood was marred by tragedy. When she was four years old, she and her sister Edith, age six, were playing by a pond on their family's property, when Lois fell in the water and drowned. Her sister's death, and the death of another of her siblings at a young age, deeply affected her. [6] She began her early schooling in New Zealand, and later she attended the Methodist Ladies' College in Hawthorne. [7] She travelled to England with her parents for a year in 1914, before returning to Australia. Her health was precarious, and her studies were frequently interrupted. She completed her studies at the Methodist Ladies' College in 1917. [3]

From 1933 to 1935, she began studying medicine at the University of Melbourne, but found that there was considerable resistance to women students. [3] She dropped her studies in 1935, when her father passed away. [7] From 1937 to 1938, she pursued studies in social work. She later returned to the University of Melbourne to complete her medical degree, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in February of 1944. [3]

Medical career

After completing her degrees, Porter spent a year working as a resident at Prince Henry's Hospital. She then had placements at the Royal Children's Hospital, and at the Royal Park Mental Hospital. In 1945, she became the first woman on staff at the Ballarat Mental Hospital, where she worked for a brief time, until her marriage to James R. Porter. The couple was married on 12 April 1946. [8] In 1949, Porter began working at the Queen Victoria Hospital, where she was the senior psychiatrist. She held this position for eleven years, during which time she established the first psychiatric clinic at the hospital. She continued as a consultant after her retirement. [3]

Philanthropy and Service

Having begun participating in the local YWCA when she was eighteen years old, [9] Porter became a member of the Australian YWCA executive in 1925, and served as vice-president of the World YWCA from 1955 to 1959. In 1963, Porter became the first Australian woman to be president of the World YWCA. [10] [11] [12] She served a four year term. She also served as the president of the Australian YWCA from 1971 to 1973. [3]

As a young woman, Porter assisted her father with the administration of his charitable trust, the F. J. Cato Charitable Trust, through which Cato donated to Methodist and other charitable causes. [3] Upon her father's death in 1935, Porter became trustee. Later in life, she made significant charitable donations through her own charitable trust, named the James and Una Porter Trust Fund. [3] She funded a chair of psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, with her mother, in 1964. [13]

She also succeeded her father as a member of the council for the Queen's College in Melbourne, becoming the first woman to sit on the council. She continued in this role until 1964. She also served on the council of St. Hilda's College in Melbourne, from 1961 to 1975. [3]

Death and legacy

Porter died on 24 June 1996. A collection of her papers are held at the University of Melbourne Archives. [7]

Honours

Porter was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1960, as part of the New Year Honours. She was recognized for her work on "social welfare". [1] She was then elevated to a Commander of the Order of the British Empire eight years later, as part of the 1968 New Year Honours. [2]

The YWCA named a building in her honour in 1971. [10] She was also included on the Heritage 200 list of notable Australians. [3]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Murdoch (philanthropist)</span> Australian philanthropist and mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch (1909-2012)

Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch, Lady Murdoch, also known as Elisabeth, Lady Murdoch, was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the wife of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eadith Walker</span> Australian philanthropist

Dame Eadith Campbell Walker was an Australian heiress and philanthropist.

Frances Gertrude Kumm was an Australian women's activist and philanthropist. She served leadership roles in the World YWCA, the Australian YWCA, the Australian Red Cross and the Victoria National Council of Women. She was particularly active in responding to the needs of refugees after World War II, and was a member of the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Macnamara</span> Australian medical doctor and scientist

Dame Annie Jean Macnamara, was an Australian medical doctor and scientist, best known for her contributions to children's health and welfare. She was honoured as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merlyn Myer</span> Australian philanthropist and charity worker

Dame Margery Merlyn Myer was an Australian philanthropist, who was notable for her charitable work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina Sweet</span> Australian zoologist

Georgina Sweet was an Australian zoologist and women's rights activist. She was the first woman to graduate with a Doctor of Science from the University of Melbourne, and was the first female acting professor in an Australian university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Hughes</span> First Lady of Australia

Dame Mary Ethel Hughes GBE was the second wife of Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. She was the daughter of a well-to-do grazier, and grew up in country New South Wales. She married Hughes in 1911, when she was 37 and he was 48; their only daughter was born in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Schardt</span> Australian philanthropist and hospital founder

Susan Schardt was an Australian philanthropist who founded an organization to provide care for poverty-stricken people with incurable conditions who had been discharged from the hospital. Canvassing the state to raise funds, she founded the Commonwealth Home for Destitute Invalids in Ryde, New South Wales to offer services to a larger number of patients.

Janet Susan McCalman, is an Australian social historian, population researcher and author at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. McCalman won the Ernest Scott Prize in 1984 and 2022 (shared); the second woman to have won and one of eight historians to have won the prize twice.

Marilyn Ann Darling is an Australian philanthropist and patron of the arts. With her husband, Leonard Gordon Darling, she instigated and has provided ongoing funding to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, ACT and other not-for-profit and charitable organisations.

Nanette Stacy Waddy was an Australian psychiatrist, who spoke out against the mistreatment of mental patients at Gladesville and Callan Park Mental Hospitals in the 1950s. Later she provided input to the development of Australian government policy in the field of drug and alcohol abuse.

Eliza Pottie was an Australian social reformer, and a leader in women's organization in New South Wales. She was involved in the founding of the Young Women's Christian Association in Sydney, the Ladies' Sanitation Association, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She served as president of the Ladies Sanitation Association for nine years. She advocated for prison reform, supported orphanages, visited people in hospitals and institutions, and campaigned for women's suffrage. She was appointed to the Government Asylum Inquiry Board in 1886. A member of the Religious Society of Friends, she helped found the Quaker Relief Committee during the depression of 1893. In 1896, she attended the first National Council of Women New South Wales as a delegate for the WCTU. She died at her home in Manly in 1907.

Isabelle E. Merry (1907–2002) was an Australian Congregational minister and chaplain at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. She was the first woman accepted for theological studies at the Congregational College of Victoria. She was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1937, becoming the first woman to be ordained in the state of Victoria. She became a full-time chaplain at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, and was the first chaplain to be on the staff of a hospital in Australia. In 1976, she was awarded an OBE for her chaplaincy work.

Jane Macartney was an Australian philanthropist, religious worker and teacher in Melbourne and surrounding regions in the 1800s. An Irish member of the Church of England, in 1833 she married Hussey Macartney, later to become the dean of St James' Cathedral in Melbourne. Her position as wife of the dean enabled her to help establish the Orphan Asylum, the Carlton Refuge, the Melbourne Home and the Lying-In Hospital, along with Frances Perry, the wife of Bishop Charles Perry. Her work in Melbourne was a continuation of her earlier charitable works in Ireland and regional Victoria, where she set up and taught in girls' Sunday Schools and visited poor families, especially assisting young mothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Brentnall</span> Australian suffragist and philanthropist

Elizabeth Brentnall was an Australian suffragist, temperance activist and philanthropist. She was the first state president (1885–99) then honorary president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Queensland.

Frances Barkman was a Jewish Australian schoolteacher and community worker. Born in Kiev, in the Russian Empire, she emigrated to Australia in 1891, with her parents, who were fleeing the pogroms. She was raised in Melbourne, and became a French language teacher at the Melbourne Continuation School, and later the MacRobertson Girls High School. Outside of teaching, she was active in charity work with the Victorian branch of the Australian Jewish Welfare Society. During World War II, she played a vital role in providing assistance to Jewish refugees arriving in Melbourne, particularly children. She led efforts to establish a children's home for orphans and unaccompanied refugee children, which was renamed the Frances Barkman Home after her death.

Dame Edith Burnside DBE was an Australian charity worker. She was involved with numerous organisations and causes.

Alice Maude Mofflin was an Australian Methodist lay leader and charity worker. She helped establish the Methodist Children's Home in Victoria, Australia, and oversaw its management as the head of the Women's Auxiliary committee for thirty eight years. She served many other charitable causes through the Methodist church, including serving for thirty years as president of the Victoria chapter of the Methodist Women's Auxiliary to Overseas Missions. For the Queen's birthday honours in 1958, she was appointed a Member of the British Empire. She died on March 23, 1961, at her home in Mount Lawley, Western Australia.

Lilian Wells (1911–2001) was an Australian church leader who served as president of the Congregational Union of Australia, and the first moderator of the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. She was the only woman to serve in the role of president for the Congregational Union. She served on the joint committee that planned the merger of the Congregationalist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches that formed the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. She was appointed an Officer of Order of the British Empire in 1977, for her service to the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Gilman Brown</span> American philanthropist

Helen Gilman Brown was an American philanthropist. She had a distinguished record of service to New York City. As social worker for years at the Union Settlement of the Upper East Side, her long service record was recognized in 1919 when she was elected to membership in the National Institute of Social Sciences. She served as patronal president, Woman's Land Army of America, 1918; and as first vice-president, National War Work Council of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). She was a co-founder and first president of the Cosmopolitan Club of New York. As a clubwoman and as a Vice-Chair of the Sulgrave Endowment Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, she demonstrated an aptitude for organization and financial acumen as well as the sympathetic training in living together. She was an ardent advocate of the League of Nations and of work for world peace.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mrs Una Beatrice Porter". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  2. 1 2 "Mrs Una Beatrice Porter". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Lemon, Barbara, "Porter, Una Beatrice (1900–1996)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2022-10-30
  4. ↑ "Obituary - Una Beatrice Porter - Obituaries Australia". oa.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  5. 1 2 "Cato, Frederick John (1858–1935)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2022-12-29
  6. ↑ "Obituary - Edith Lois Cato - Obituaries Australia". oa.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  7. 1 2 3 "Dr. Una Beatrice Porter (nee Cato) 1900-1996". University of Melbourne Library. 23 January 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Weddings". Age. 1946-04-13. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  9. ↑ Younger, Gavin (2019-12-05). "Women's Movements 1880-1960". Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  10. 1 2 "Una Porter opens a namesake". Canberra Times. 1971-03-31. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  11. ↑ "World Chief of YWCA in Canberra". Canberra Times. 1966-11-18. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  12. ↑ "News In Brief". Canberra Times. 1963-10-09. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  13. ↑ Roberts, John (2017-12-20). "Key 77: Faculty of Medicine [iii] 1944-1976/Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology 1963; 1971". Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  14. ↑ Melbourne, National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of. "Edited Book - Growing Together: Letters between Frederick John Cato and Frances Bethune, 1881 to 1884 - The Australian Women's Register". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.