Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne BM MS (1878 - 1957)

Born 4 Dec 1878 in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Ancestors

Died 23 May 1957 at age 78 in Nundah, Queensland, Australia

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Biography

Eleanor Bourne BM MS is Notable.

Doctor Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne BM MS was the first Queensland-born woman to graduate in medicine; her (medical degree was from Sydney University). Her medical career was in public health and paediatrics; she worked in Brisbane and London. She served as a medical doctor during the First World War in the British Army. Eleanor enjoyed fifty years membership of the Queensland branch of the British Medical Association.

Dr Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne

Born Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne on 4th December 1878 at South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, she was the eldest child and older daughter of John Bourne, a clerk in the Land Commission Court, and Jane Hockings.^[1] She was educated at the Brisbane Central School for Girls, the Leichhardt Street State School and the Brisbane Grammar School. She came from a high achieving family: her sister, Florence, was principal of Maryborough Girls’ High School and her brother, George, served at Gallipoli and the Middle East. Setting-aside a severe attack of typhoid fever, Eleanor graduated as bachelor of medicine and master of surgery at the University of Sydney on 6th July 1903; the first Queensland-born woman to do so.^[2]

In 1903-07 Eleanor was resident medical officer at the Women's Hospital, Sydney, at the Brisbane General Hospital, where she was the first woman resident, and at the Hospital for Sick Children, Brisbane. In 1907 she entered general practice at 69 Wickham Terrace, serving as honorary out-patient physician to the children's hospital and as an anaesthetist. Appointed the first medical officer in the Department of Public Instruction on 1st January 1911, she had to establish principles for the medical examination of children and the conditions under which they studied; she also briefed teachers and laid down the procedure for notifying parents of marked physical defects. In 1910-11 she visited Charleville, Cunnamulla, Thargomindah, Augathella, Eulo, Blackall, Longreach and Barcaldine, while in 1912 she worked in North Queensland, particularly in the Cairns and Mackay districts.^[3]

Although dedicated to child health, Eleanor applied for leave in January 1916. She went to England at her own expense and served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (women were not accepted in the Australian Army Medical Corps) in the Endell Street military hospital, London, staffed entirely by women. Promoted major in 1917, she became medical officer to Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps.^[2]

Awarded a Diploma of Public Health in 1920 by the Royal College of Physicians and of Surgeons, Eleanor was appointed assistant medical officer to the city of Carlisle, responsible for organising child welfare services and for the new maternity hospital and associated maternal welfare services. Forced to resign by ill health in June 1937, she left Carlisle and retired to Manly, on the shores of Moreton Bay.^[3]

After fifty years membership of the Queensland branch of the British Medical Association, Eleanor was made an honorary life member in 1953. She was also interested in the Queensland Medical Society and was the first honorary medical officer to the Crèche and Kindergarten Association.^[3]

Eleanor passed away, unmarried, aged 78 years, on 23rd May 1957 at Nundah Private Hospital, Nundah, Queensland and is buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Queensland Birth Index #B24192/1878
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Molina, Liliana; Courier Mail, 21 Jun 2016: Queensland’s most inspirational; accessed 22 Aug 2019
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Bell, Jacqueline. Bourne, Eleanor Elizabeth (1878–1957), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1979; accessed online 22 Aug 2019
4. ↑ Queensland Death Index #B19676/1957

Qld Birth Registration: 1878/B/24192 Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne Birth date: 04/12/1878 Mother's name: Jane Elizabeth Hockings Father/parent's name: John Sumner Pears Bourne

Qld Death Registration: 1957/B/19676 Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne Death date: 23/05/1957 Mother's name: Jane Elizabeth Hockings Father's name: John Sumner Pears

See also

• Wikipedia profile: Eleanor Elizabeth Bourne; accessed 22 Aug 2019.