Location: Queensland, Australia
Description: Eleanor Constance Greenham was born on 15 April 1874 in Ipswich, Queensland. She was the daughter of John and Eleanor (nee Johnstone) Greenham. Eleanor attended Ipswich Central Girls' and Infants' School for her primary education and in 1889 and 1890 she attended the Brisbane Girls' Grammar School. In 1892 she was one of the first pupils at the newly opened Ipswich Girls' Grammar School.
Eleanor enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney in 1895, in preparation for studying for a degree in medicine. She graduated in March 1901 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Master of Surgery, and became the first Queensland-born woman to practice medicine.
In July 1901 she was appointed Resident Medical Officer at the Lady Bowen Hospital on Wickham Terrace, Brisbane. Eleanor was, however, intent on private practice, and, when her year's appointment at the Lady Bowen Hospital came to an end, she took rooms in City Chambers at the corner of Queen and Edward Streets where she gradually built up a successful practice among the business girls of Brisbane.
Eleanor never married but was a generous supporter of her extended family. She was also one of the first women in Queensland to drive a car. In her 80th year she retired to 85 Oxlade Drive at New Farm but continued to see some of her old patients. She died on 31 December 1957 of congestive cardiac failure.
Eleanor Greenham was a pioneer and by her persistence and expertise overcame many difficulties and opposition. She helped to sweep away the prejudice against medical women in the years preceding World War I. (Information taken from: Lesley M. Williams, A pioneer not a traditionalist: the life and work of Dr. Eleanor Greenham, Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal, Vol. XV, No. 1, February 1993, p.26)
View this page at the State Library of Queensland: http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/125308