Lilian Violet Cooper | |
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 | |
| Born | 11 August 1861 |
| Died | 18 August 1947 (aged 86) |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Surgeon |
Lilian Violet Cooper (11 August 1861 - 18 August 1947 Brisbane) was a British-born medical practitioner in Queensland, Australia. She was the first woman medical doctor registered in Queensland. [1]
Lilian Cooper was born in Clapham, South London on 11 August 1861, to parents Henry Fallowfield Cooper, a captain in the Royal Marines, and his wife Elizabeth Shewell. [2] She chose to study medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1886. After completing the course in October 1890 she qualified as a doctor at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, studying also at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.
On completing her education at the London School of Medicine for Women, in 1892, Cooper sailed for Brisbane with Mary Josephine Bedford. In June 1891, Cooper applied for registration with the Medical Board of Queensland, becoming the first woman doctor registered in Queensland and the second in Australia. Cooper began her professional career in Brisbane with Dr Booth at his general practice in South Brisbane. However, after 6 months of working with Booth who was, reportedly, inebriated for much of the time, Cooper terminated her agreement with him and set up her own practice. Her actions raised the ire of Brisbane's then (all male) medical establishment who shunned her professionally until 1893 when she was finally admitted as a member of the Queensland Medical Society. She commenced her own practice at The Mansions in George Street in 1893, making house calls in her horse and sulky initially, a bicycle and then in her much-loved motorcar. [3] [4] Cooper then worked at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Lady Lamington Hospital for Women in Brisbane, before joining the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in 1905. [1]
Cooper returned to England in 1911 and was awarded a doctorate of medicine by the University of Durham in June 1912. During this period she travelled in the United States and visited Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland and Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. [1]
During World War I, Cooper volunteered with the Scottish Women's Hospital Service after was she was turned down by the Australian Army as female doctors were not wanted. She served on the front line in France, Macedonia and Serbia and was in charge of the ambulance division, with all female drivers (including her friend Mary Josephine Bedford). Operating in tents close to the front line, Cooper was later awarded the Order of St Sava from the Serbian King for her wartime efforts. [5]
After World War I, Cooper and Bedford returned to Brisbane in 1918, later taking up residence in the St Mary’s rectory, [6] Kangaroo Point. Cooper became a Foundation Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1928 and Founder of the Queensland Medical Women's Society. [7]
Cooper retired in 1941. She died at Brisbane on 18 August 1947 and is buried next to her long-time companion Mary Josephine Bedford at Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. [8]
The electoral district of Cooper, created in the 2017 Queensland state electoral redistribution [9] and the Lilian Cooper Medical Centre in Spring Hill and both named after Lilian Cooper. [10]
In 2020, the State Library of Queensland produced an episode on Lilian Cooper and her life achievements for their Dangerous Women Podcast series. [11]
Sir Raphael West Cilento, often known as "Ray", was an Australian medical practitioner and public health administrator.
The history of Queensland encompasses both a long Aboriginal Australian presence as well as the more recent periods of European colonisation and as a state of Australia. Before being charted and claimed for the Kingdom of Great Britain by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, the coast of north-eastern Australia was explored by Dutch and French navigators. Queensland separated from the Colony of New South Wales as a self-governing Crown colony in 1859. In 1901 it became one of the six founding states of Australia.
The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, which draws its powers from the Libraries Act 1988. It contains a significant portion of Queensland's documentary heritage, major reference and research collections, and is an advocate of and partner with public libraries across Queensland. The Library is at Kurilpa Point, within the Queensland Cultural Centre on the Brisbane River at South Bank.
The Central Queensland Territorial Separation League was formed in Rockhampton in 1889 with the aim of agitating for separation of the Central Queensland region from the (then) colony of Queensland.
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Professor Errol Solomon Meyers was a prominent Brisbane doctor and one of the founding fathers of the University of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He was a leader in medical and dental education in Queensland. Meyers also served with distinction during World War I.
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Lesley Williams was a scientist and academic at the University of Queensland and pioneer in the field of human cytogenetics.
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Neal Macrossan Playground is a heritage-listed playground at 14 Caroline Street in the former suburb of Ithaca now Paddington, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1918 to 1934. It is also known as Ithaca Playground. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 May 1998.
Bedford Playground is a heritage-listed playground at 8 Love Street, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Frank Gibson Costello and built from 1927 onwards, one of the builders being Sir Manuel Hornibrook. It is also known as Bedford Park and Spring Hill Playground. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 May 1998.
Mary Josephine Bedford was a philanthropist in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, who was involved in family welfare and children's development through her involvement with the Playground Association and the Crèche and Kindergarten Association. She was awarded the Order of St Sava for her services as an ambulance driver in World War I.
Phoebe Chapple was a South Australian medical doctor, decorated for her heroic service in France during World War I.
Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne was the first Queensland woman to study medicine. She also was one of only 15 women doctors in Australia who volunteered for service in World War I.
Ellen Mary Kent Hughes, was an Australian medical doctor and council alderman. She was the first woman to serve on a local government council in Queensland, serving on the Kingaroy Shire Council from 1923 to 1924.
Eleanor Constance Greenham was the first woman born in Queensland, Australia, to be a registered physician.
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Lorna Verdun Sisely, MBBS, MS, FRACS, FACS, CM was a surgeon from Victoria, Australia. She was the founder and the consultant surgeon of the Queen Victoria Medical Centre Breast Clinic, the first of its kind in Victoria. She was admitted as a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1947. She was the first woman to do this by passing the RACS Fellowship Examination. She was awarded an OBE in 1980 in recognition of her service to medicine.
This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Dr Lilian Cooper and Ms Josephine Bedford". John Oxley Library Blog. State Library of Queensland. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2021. This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Dr Lilian Cooper and Ms Josephine Bedford". State Library of Queensland. 23 November 2020. This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Dr Lilian Cooper and Ms Josephine Bedford". State Library of Queensland. 23 November 2020. This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Dangerous Women". State Library of Queensland. State Library of Queensland. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
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