Kathleen Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (7 September 1905 – 27 August 1990) was an Australian academic and historian.
Biography
Fitzpatrick (born Kathleen Elizabeth Pitt) was born in the town of ,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
in 1905.
She was educated at
Loreto Convent in
South Melbourne
South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...
and
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Presentation Convent in
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, and
Lauriston Girls' School
(Holiness, Wisdom, Strength)
, established = 1901
, type = Independent, single-sex, day school
, denomination = Non-denominational
, slogan = A school for life
, principal ...
in
Armadale.
From there, Fitzpatrick entered the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
, 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
Sir Ernest Scott (21 June 1867 – 6 December 1939) was an Australian historian and professor of history at the University of Melbourne from 1913 to 1936.
Early life
Scott was born in Northampton, England, on 21 June 1867, the son of Hannah ...
; this second subject would become her favourite after a holiday to
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
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
Somerville College
Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...
,
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
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
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...
, 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
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...
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
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...
Raymond Priestley
Sir Raymond Edward Priestley (20 July 1886 – 24 June 1974) was an English geologist and early Antarctic explorer. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, where he helped found The Raymond Priestley Centre on the shores ...
to acquaint herself with the new professor of history
Max Crawford
Raymond Maxwell Crawford (6 August 1906–24 November 1991), was a leading Australian historian. He was Professor of History at the University of Melbourne from 1937 to 1970.]
Life and career
Crawford was born in Grenfell, New South Wales, ...
, 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
ima 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
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
up until the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
Fitzpatrick's lectures were well regarded amongst her students;
Geoffrey Serle
Alan Geoffrey Serle (10 March 1922 – 27 April 1998), known as Geoff, was an Australian historian, who is best known for his books on the colony of Victoria; ''The Golden Age'' (1963) and ''The Rush to be Rich'' (1971) and his biographies of J ...
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
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...
, and she produced several publications on this subject.
Outside of her academic work, Fitzpatrick 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
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...
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 sciences.
Fitzpatrick's first book, ''Sir
John Franklin
Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...
in Tasmania, 1837–1843'', was published in 1949.
Shortly after this she commenced work on a biography of
Charles La Trobe
Charles la Trobe, CB (20 March 18014 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Austra ...
, 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 (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
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
''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...
''.
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
John Andrew La Nauze (9 June 1911 – 20 August 1990) was an Australian historian from Western Australia.
He was born in the Goldfields town of Boulder. Shortly after his fourth birthday, his Mauritian-born father Captain Charles La Nauze was ...
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
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...
.
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
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...
; 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 ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
; 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 retirement, Fitzpartrick accumulated significant wealth generated, in the main, from the financial success of her father, who after a distinguished civil service career culminating as Head of Treasury, Victoria, was recruited to stockbroking by
Sir Ian Potter
Sir William Ian Potter (25 August 190224 October 1994), known as Ian Potter, was an Australian stockbroker, businessman and philanthropy, philanthropist. Potter was knighted in 1962. The Ian Potter Foundation, which he established in 1964, has ...
.
Awards, honours and legacy
![University of Melbourne Award Bronze Plaque Kathleen Fitzpatrick](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/University_of_Melbourne_Award_Bronze_Plaque_Kathleen_Fitzpatrick.jpg)
In 1983 Fitzpatrick was awarded an
honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Melbourne,
and in 1989 she was appointed an Officer of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...
(AO) for her services to education, particularly in the field of history.
She was awarded a
University of Melbourne Award
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
, which "recognises those individuals who have made an outstanding and enduring contribution to the University and its scholarly community". A bronze plaque honouring her is on the wall along the Professors' Walk at the Parkville campus of the University.
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."
The University has named its largest theatre in her honour, in addition to the
ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship
The Australian Laureate Fellowship is an Australian professorial research fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council. Up to 17 fellows are chosen each year for five-year awards.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Georgina Sweet fellowships
In 201 ...
, and the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Lecture.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Kathleen
1905 births
1990 deaths
Officers of the Order of Australia
Australian women historians
20th-century Australian historians
Academic staff of the University of Melbourne
20th-century Australian women writers
University of Melbourne women
Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
People educated at Lauriston Girls' School
Writers from Victoria (Australia)