Eleanor Margrethe "Rita" Stang (1 June 1894 – 18 July 1978) was an Australian medical practitioner. She was the senior medical officer for schools in Western Australia and adviser on infant health from 1929 until 1955.

Early life and education

Eleanor Margrethe Stang was born in

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popul ...

, Victoria on 1 June 1894, the eldest of the children of public servant and doctor Thomas Newbould Stang and Eleanor Bath Stang (née Eastwood). She attended Presbyterian Ladies' College from 1905, before studying medicine at 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 nor ...

, from which she graduated with an MB BS in 1918. She received a Diploma of Public Health in 1927 from the same university.

Career

After graduation Stang worked alongside her husband as a general practitioner at

Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a coastal town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the S ...

. She later acted as resident medical officer at public hospitals in Melbourne. In 1925 she was appointed to replace

Roberta Jull Roberta Henrietta Margaritta Jull (née Stewart, 16 August 1872 in Glasgow, Scotland – 6 March 1961 in Subiaco, Western Australia) was a medical doctor who, spurred by poor living conditions and high infant mortality, worked towards social refo ...

as medical officer for schools in Western Australia, on a salary of £500 to £600 per annum. In July 1928 Stang went to England on exchange as medical inspector on the London County Council. While there, she studied hygiene teaching and practice, maternity and child welfare. She also attended a public health conference in Dublin representing the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

and was a proxy participant at the congress of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship held in Berlin in June 1929. On her return to Perth, Stang was appointed medical supervisor of infant health for the WA Child's Welfare Department, in addition to her school role. In 1933 she was awarded a Bachelor of Medicine (''ad eundum gradum'') by the University of Western Australia. Stang gave lectures in Perth and country areas and wrote articles promoting hygiene, effective child-rearing and immunisation against disease. She also pushed for pre-school clinics to be established to care for the health of children between two and school-age. Stang retired from both of her public service positions in 1955 and returned to Victoria where she acted as a locum tenens and also as a ship's doctor.

Personal

Stang married a fellow doctor, Norman Arthur Albiston, at Auburn Methodist Church, Hawthorn on 10 January 1919. There were no children of the marriage. She petitioned for divorce in 1927 on the ground of desertion. Stang died in Melbourne on 18 July 1978 and was cremated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stang, Rita 1894 births 1978 deaths University of Melbourne alumni 20th-century Australian medical doctors Australian public health doctors Women public health doctors People from South Yarra, Victoria Medical doctors from Melbourne People educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne