Dr. Mary Booth OBE was born in Sydney in 1869.
After briefly studying at the University of Melbourne in 1894, a legacy from her grandfather gave her the financial independence to leave for Scotland where she enrolled at the College of Medicine for Women, University of Edinburgh. She graduated in 1899 and returned to Sydney and established a medical practice despite considerable opposition from the conservative profession. Surprisingly she never worked in an Australian hospital though she went on to guide and advise many, founding the Women’s Club in 1901 and becoming the vice president of the National Council of Women in New South Wales. She lectured in hygiene for the Department of Public Education from 1904-09 and then was employed to establish the first school of medical service in Victoria by the State Department.
She went on to support and advocate for the war efforts and domestic problems raised by World War I, promoted and protected the Anzac tradition through the Anzac Fellowship for Women, an ardent advocate of increased immigration and after the war she worked on Town Planning in NSW, advising the royal commission on the basic wage that young families could happily be brought up in if the flat was designed with proper space for children. Her last major initiative in 1936 was to found the Memorial College of Household Arts and Science on land adjoining her home in Kirribilli which in 1961 funded the establishment of the Dr Mary Booth Scholarship for women economics students at the University of Sydney.
It was for her public activity in relation to feminist and health education causes that she came to be recognised as a leader.
It is due to her efforts opposing redevelopment in the 1940’s and advocating for the foreshore reservation to be set aside, while rallying a community of people behind her, that this part of our Harbour foreshore is public parkland today.
