Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Australian academic)
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Fitzpatrick was an Australian academic and historian.
Fitzpatrick (born Kathleen Pitt) was born in the town of Omeo, Victoria
in 1905. She was educated at Loreto
Convent in South Melbourne
and Portland
, Presentation Convent in Windsor
, and Lauriston Girls' School in Armadale
. From there, Fitzpatrick entered the University of Melbourne
, enrolling in English
, following on from her love of literature in high school. However, the honours program in English did not appeal to her, so she enrolled also in history, studying under Ernest Scott; this second subject would become her favourite after a holiday to Tasmania
at the end of her first year, when she was inspired by a visit to the ruins of Port Arthur
.
From 1925, she was a member of the Lyceum Club. She graduated from Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in 1926, and with financial support from her parents, obtained another Bachelor of Arts at Oxford University in 1928, completing the three-year degree in two years.
On her return to Australia in 1929, Fitzpatrick was employed as a temporary lecturer at the University of Sydney
, teaching history. The following year she became a tutor in English
at her alma mater, a position she held until 28 August 1932, when she married journalist Brian Fitzpatrick
and was consequently forced to leave her job, as was required of all female academics at the time.
After leaving Melbourne, Fitzpatrick graduated with a Masters of Arts from Oxford in 1933. In 1935 she and her husband separated; she applied to the University of Melbourne for a job, but was rebuffed, the Appointments Board advising her that women were only wanted for secretarial work. Fitzpatrick studied shorthand
and typing at the Melbourne Technical School (now RMIT University
) in 1936, and indeed became a teacher there the following year, teaching shorthand and commercial English.
By 1937 she was tutoring English at the University of Melbourne, when a new lectureship in the Department of History was advertised; having been advised by the vice-chancellor
Raymond Priestley
to acquaint herself with the new professor of history Max Crawford
, which she did, with the support of a letter of introduction from her former teacher Scott. Crawford later recalled that he "could see at once that Ernest Scott had sent [him] a winner", and supported Fitzpatrick for the position over a strong field of other candidates, and she was appointed to the lectureship late in 1937, to commence in 1938. The appointment increased the full-time staff in the department from two (Crawford and Jessie Webb
) to three, and for a while the department was the first in the University with a majority of female staff.
Fitzpatrick taught first-year British history herself, to both the regular and honours students, and assisted with later-year subjects, sharing the entire teaching duties of the department with Webb whenever Crawford was absent. Her course in British history was widely varied, and was distinctive among contemporary courses elsewhere in the world for teaching British social, cultural and economic history in conjunction with the traditional political and religious subject matter. She also taught a second-year honours level subject on the French Revolution
up until the Second World War
. Fitzpatrick's lectures were well regarded amongst her students; Geoffrey Serle
described them in a eulogy for Fitzpatrick as:
Her first area of research, following on from her early interest in Port Arthur, was the colonial-era history of Van Diemen's Land
, and she produced several publications on this subject.
Outside of her academic work, Fitpatrick gave a number of radio talks for adult education programs through the 1940s, covering a variety of history topics. During the war, Fitzpatrick negotiated with employers on behalf of female university students who had been drafted to work under the Manpower
regime, in her role as President of the Council for Women in War Work.
In 1942 Fitzpatrick was promoted to senior lecturer, and in 1948 became an associate professor. At the time, she was only the third woman to have been appointed associate professor at the University, and the first in Australia outside the natural science
s.
Fitzpatrick's first book, Sir John Franklin
in Tasmania, 1837-1843, was published in 1949. Shortly after this she commenced work on a biography of Charles La Trobe
, but it was never published. Her second book, Australian Explorers, was a selection of writings from early explorers, commissioned for Oxford University Press
and published in 1958; it would become a standard text for Australian history courses. In addition to this historical writing, she also reviewed new books in British and colonial history, and contributed literary reviews and criticism to Southerly
and Meanjin
.
When a second chair in history was created in 1955, Fitzpatrick was Crawford's first choice for the position, but she declined to apply for it; John La Nauze was appointed instead. Fitzpatrick later wrote that she did not think the quality of her original scholarship qualified her for a chair. Fitzpatrick continued to teach the compulsory first-year British history course solo until a second lecturer was appointed in 1959, and the history class – which by that time comprised more than five hundred students – was divided in two. She was a founding member of the Australian Humanities Research Council in 1956 (the only woman among them), and later a founding fellow of its successor body, the Australian Academy of the Humanities
.
Fitzpatrick retired from teaching in 1962. In 1964 she was a member of the Third University Committee, which advised the Government of Victoria
on the establishment of Melbourne's third university, La Trobe University
; it was Fitzpatrick who suggested that it be named after Charles La Trobe. She continued to write in her retirement, preparing a large work on the American novelist Henry James
; she failed to find a publisher however. In 1975 she authored a commissioned history of Presbyterian Ladies' College
, and in 1983 published Solid Bluestone Foundations, part memoir and part social history, which was warmly received by critics.
In 1983 Fitzpatrick was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws, and on Australia Day
1989 she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia
(AO) for her services to education.
Fitzpatrick died in 1990. From her estate she bequeathed a fund to the University of Melbourne for the purchase of history books for the library; she dedicated it in the name of her father, Henry Pitt, "in gratitude for allowing her the university education of which he had been deprived."
Fitzpatrick (born Kathleen Pitt) was born in the town of Omeo, Victoria
Omeo, Victoria
Omeo is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2006 census, Omeo had a population of 452. The name is derived from the Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hills'...
in 1905. She was educated at Loreto
Sisters of Loreto
The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, more commonly known as the Loreto Sisters , is a women's Catholic religious order founded by an Englishwoman, Mary Ward, in 1609 at Saint-Omer in northern France...
Convent in South Melbourne
South Melbourne, Victoria
South Melbourne is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Port Phillip and Melbourne...
and Portland
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
, Presentation Convent in Windsor
Windsor, Victoria
Windsor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Windsor had a population of 6394....
, and Lauriston Girls' School in Armadale
Armadale, Victoria
Armadale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Armadale had a population of 8,467....
. From there, Fitzpatrick entered the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, enrolling in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, following on from her love of literature in high school. However, the honours program in English did not appeal to her, so she enrolled also in history, studying under Ernest Scott; this second subject would become her favourite after a holiday to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
at the end of her first year, when she was inspired by a visit to the ruins of Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Tasmania
Port Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and the open air museum is officially Tasmania's top tourist attraction. It is located approximately 60 km south east of...
.
From 1925, she was a member of the Lyceum Club. She graduated from Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in 1926, and with financial support from her parents, obtained another Bachelor of Arts at Oxford University in 1928, completing the three-year degree in two years.
On her return to Australia in 1929, Fitzpatrick was employed as a temporary lecturer at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, teaching history. The following year she became a tutor in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at her alma mater, a position she held until 28 August 1932, when she married journalist Brian Fitzpatrick
Brian Fitzpatrick (Australian author)
Brian Charles Fitzpatrick was an author, historian, journalist and one of the founders of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties....
and was consequently forced to leave her job, as was required of all female academics at the time.
After leaving Melbourne, Fitzpatrick graduated with a Masters of Arts from Oxford in 1933. In 1935 she and her husband separated; she applied to the University of Melbourne for a job, but was rebuffed, the Appointments Board advising her that women were only wanted for secretarial work. Fitzpatrick studied shorthand
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
and typing at the Melbourne Technical School (now RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
) in 1936, and indeed became a teacher there the following year, teaching shorthand and commercial English.
By 1937 she was tutoring English at the University of Melbourne, when a new lectureship in the Department of History was advertised; having been advised by the vice-chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
Raymond Priestley
Raymond Priestley
Sir Raymond Edward Priestley was a British geologist and early Antarctic explorer.-Biography:Raymond Priestley was born in Bredon's Norton,Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in 1886, the second son and second of eight children of Joseph Edward Priestley, headmaster of Tewkesbury grammar school, and his...
to acquaint herself with the new professor of history Max Crawford
Max Crawford
Raymond Maxwell Crawford , was a leading Australian historian. He was Professor of History at the University of Melbourne from 1937 to 1970....
, which she did, with the support of a letter of introduction from her former teacher Scott. Crawford later recalled that he "could see at once that Ernest Scott had sent [him] a winner", and supported Fitzpatrick for the position over a strong field of other candidates, and she was appointed to the lectureship late in 1937, to commence in 1938. The appointment increased the full-time staff in the department from two (Crawford and Jessie Webb
Jessie Webb
Jessie Stobo Watson Webb was an Australian academic and historian, one of the first female teachers at the University of Melbourne. The only monograph of Webb's life is by R. T...
) to three, and for a while the department was the first in the University with a majority of female staff.
Fitzpatrick taught first-year British history herself, to both the regular and honours students, and assisted with later-year subjects, sharing the entire teaching duties of the department with Webb whenever Crawford was absent. Her course in British history was widely varied, and was distinctive among contemporary courses elsewhere in the world for teaching British social, cultural and economic history in conjunction with the traditional political and religious subject matter. She also taught a second-year honours level subject on the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
up until the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Fitzpatrick's lectures were well regarded amongst her students; Geoffrey Serle
Geoffrey Serle
Geoffrey Serle AO was an Australian historian, who is perhaps best known for his books on the colony of Victoria; The Golden Age and The Rush to be Rich and his biographies of John Monash, John Curtin and Robin Boyd....
described them in a eulogy for Fitzpatrick as:
"set-piece performances, every word considered and counting... in that individual clear voice, cool and rational, but imbued with passion... Some students were known to return for the evening repeat."
Her first area of research, following on from her early interest in Port Arthur, was the colonial-era history of Van Diemen's Land
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, and she produced several publications on this subject.
Outside of her academic work, Fitpatrick gave a number of radio talks for adult education programs through the 1940s, covering a variety of history topics. During the war, Fitzpatrick negotiated with employers on behalf of female university students who had been drafted to work under the Manpower
Manpower Directorate (Australia)
The Manpower Directorate was a division of the Government of Australia established in January, 1942 to be responsible for active service and support industry recruitment during World War II to combat labor shortages in strategic areas. The agency had extensive power and reach in furtherance of this...
regime, in her role as President of the Council for Women in War Work.
In 1942 Fitzpatrick was promoted to senior lecturer, and in 1948 became an associate professor. At the time, she was only the third woman to have been appointed associate professor at the University, and the first in Australia outside the natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s.
Fitzpatrick's first book, Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
in Tasmania, 1837-1843, was published in 1949. Shortly after this she commenced work on a biography of Charles La Trobe
Charles La Trobe
Charles Joseph La Trobe was the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria .-Early life:La Trobe was born in London, the son of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, a family of Huguenot origin...
, but it was never published. Her second book, Australian Explorers, was a selection of writings from early explorers, commissioned for Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
and published in 1958; it would become a standard text for Australian history courses. In addition to this historical writing, she also reviewed new books in British and colonial history, and contributed literary reviews and criticism to Southerly
Southerly (journal)
Southerly is an Australian literary magazine, established in the 1930s. It is currently published in hardcopy and online three times a year, and carries fiction and poetry by established and new authors as well as reviews and critical essays...
and Meanjin
Meanjin
Meanjin is an Australian literary journal. The name - pronounced Mee-AN-jin - is derived from an Aboriginal word for the land where the city Brisbane is located.It was founded in December 1940, in Brisbane, by Clem Christesen...
.
When a second chair in history was created in 1955, Fitzpatrick was Crawford's first choice for the position, but she declined to apply for it; John La Nauze was appointed instead. Fitzpatrick later wrote that she did not think the quality of her original scholarship qualified her for a chair. Fitzpatrick continued to teach the compulsory first-year British history course solo until a second lecturer was appointed in 1959, and the history class – which by that time comprised more than five hundred students – was divided in two. She was a founding member of the Australian Humanities Research Council in 1956 (the only woman among them), and later a founding fellow of its successor body, the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Australian Academy of the Humanities
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...
.
Fitzpatrick retired from teaching in 1962. In 1964 she was a member of the Third University Committee, which advised the Government of Victoria
Government of Victoria
The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...
on the establishment of Melbourne's third university, La Trobe University
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
; it was Fitzpatrick who suggested that it be named after Charles La Trobe. She continued to write in her retirement, preparing a large work on the American novelist Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
; she failed to find a publisher however. In 1975 she authored a commissioned history of Presbyterian Ladies' College
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne , is an independent,private, Presbyterian, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, located in Burwood, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, and in 1983 published Solid Bluestone Foundations, part memoir and part social history, which was warmly received by critics.
In 1983 Fitzpatrick was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws, and on Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
1989 she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(AO) for her services to education.
Fitzpatrick died in 1990. From her estate she bequeathed a fund to the University of Melbourne for the purchase of history books for the library; she dedicated it in the name of her father, Henry Pitt, "in gratitude for allowing her the university education of which he had been deprived."