Hill, Dorothy (1907 - 1997)

Summary

Dorothy Hill was Research Professor of Geology, University of Queensland 1959-1972 and served for six months as President of the Australian Academy of Science, Canberra in 1970. She was the first female elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) and has published widely on palaeontology, stratigraphy and geology.

She is commemorated by the Dorothy Hill Chair in Palaeontology & Stratigraphy at the University of Queensland, established 1972 and the Dorothy Hill Library, University of Queensland. The Australian Academy of Science has awarded the Dorothy Hill Prize (later Medal) since 2002, named in her honour, that recognises significant research in the field of earth sciences conducted by a female Australian resident.

Details

Chronology

1928

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Queensland

1930 - 1932

Award - University of Queensland Foundation Travelling Scholarship [Went to Cambridge]

1932

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Cambridge, UK

1932 - 1935

Career position - Queensland Students' Research Fellowship

1935 - 1937

Award - 1851 Exhibition Research Fellowship

1937 - 1942

Career position - Research Fellow, University of Queensland

1942

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Queensland

1942 - 1945

Military service - Second World War. Second Officer, Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS)

1946 - 1952

Career position - Lecturer in Geology, University of Queensland

1949 - 1950

Career position - President, Royal Society of Queensland

1955 - 1956

Career position - Chairman, Geological Society of Australia, Queensland division

1955 - 1959

Career position - Reader in Geology, University of Queensland

1956 - 1997

Career position - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1959 - 1972

Career position - Research Professor in Geology, University of Queensland

1962

Career position - Foundation Member, Queensland Palaeontographical Society

1964

Award - Lyell Medal, Geological Society of London

1965

Career position - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS) [First Australian woman to achieve this]

1966

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1967

Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1967

Award - Bancroft Oration and Medal, Australian Medical Association, Queensland branch

1970

Career position - President, Australian Academy of Science [First female to be President]

1971

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - For service to geology and palaentology

1971 - 1972

Career position - First woman in an Australian university to be president of her university's Professorial board

1973 - 1975

Career position - President, Geological Society of Australia

1973 - 1997

Career position - Emeritus Professor of Geology, University of Queensland

1974

Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Queensland

1981

Award - W.R. Browne Award, Geological Society of Australia

1983

Award - ANZAAS Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1993

Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) - for service to geology particularly as a palaeontologist and to research and teaching

Related entries

Archival resources

John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland

• Dorothy Hill - Records, 1962, OM72-19; John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland. Details

The University of Queensland Archives

• Dorothy Hill - Records, 1930 - 1988; The University of Queensland Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Australasian Science, A Bright Sparcs Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/journal/journal.htm. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Articles

• Campbell, Ken, 'Obituary: Dorothy Hill', WISENET Journal, 45 (November) (1997), http://www.wisenet-australia.org/ISSUE45/dhill.htm. Details
• Sherratt, Tim, 'Finding Life in Ancient Corals: Dorothy Hill', Australasian Science, Summer (1995), http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/journal/as_hill.htm. Details

Books

• Carey, Jane, Taking to the field: a history of Australian women in science (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Press, 2023), 297 pp. Details
• Gregory, Helen, Vivant Professores: Distinguished Members of the University of Queensland, 1910-1940 (St Lucia: University of Queensland Library, 1987), 180 pp. Details
• Hill, D.; and Denmead, A. K., The geology of Queensland ([Melbourne]: Melbourne University Press for Geological Society of Australia, 1960), 474 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Hill, Dorothy, 'Jack, Robert Logan (1845-1921), geologist and explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), p. 466. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040526b.htm. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'Richards, Henry Caselli (1884-1947), Professor of Geology' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 373-374. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110383b.htm. Details
• Turner, Susan, 'Hill, Dorothy' in New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Koertge, Noretta, ed., vol. 3 (Detroit : Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008), pp. 315-320 . Details

Edited Books

• Denmead, A. K.; Tweedale, G. W.; and Wilson, A. F. eds, The Tasman geosyncline: a symposium ([Brisbane]: Geological Society of Australia, Queensland Division, 1974), 409 pp. Details
• McKay, Judith ed., Brilliant Careers: Women Collectors and Illustrators in Queensland (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1997), 80 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Campbell, K. S. W.; Jell, J. S. Campbell, K.S.W.; and Jell, J.S., 'Dorothy Hill 1907-1997', Historical Records of Australian Science, 12 (2) (1998), 205-228. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9981220205. Details
• Campbell, K.S.W.; and Jell, J.S., 'Dorothy Hill, A.C., C.B.E. 10 September 1907-23 April 1997', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 45 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1999.0014. Details
• Denmead, A. K., 'Portrait of a scientist: Dorothy Hill', Earth science reviews, 8 (3) (1972), 351-63. Details
• Giles, G. G. ; Hill, D. J.; and Silver, B., 'The Lung Cancer Epidemic in Australia, 1910 to 1989', Australian Journal of Public Health, 15 (3) (1991), 245-247. Details
• Hill, D., 'The scientific work of Martin F. Glaessner, palaeontologist and historical geologist', Special papers, Centre Pre-Cambrian Research, University of Adelaide, 1 (1972), 1-11. Details
• Hill, D.; and Willadsen, C., 'Bibliography of Australian geological serials and other Australian periodicals that include geological papers', Papers of the Department of Geology, University of Queensland, 9 (3) (1980), 1-76. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'British terminology for rugose corals', Geological magazine, 72 (11) (1935), 481-519, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800094577. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'Robert Logan Jack: a Memorial Address', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, lviii (7) (1946), 113-124. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, '[Obituary]: Edward Oswald Marks, 1882-1971', Queensland Naturalist, 20 (4/6) (1972), 124-129. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'The First Fifty Years of the Department of Geology of the University of Queensland', University of Queensland, Department of Geology, 10 (1) (1981), 1-68. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'The Great Barrier Reef Committee, 1922-82: the First Thirty Years', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (1) (1984), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9840610001. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'The Great Barrier Reef Committee, 1922-1982, Part 2: the last Three Decades', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 195-221. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620195. Details
• Hill, Dorothy, 'Edwin Sherbon Hills, 1906-1986', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 79-95. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710079. Details
• Hutchings, Pat; Brown, Barbara E.; Byrne, Maria; Hamylton, Sarah; and Spencer, Tom, 'The remarkable contributions of ten outstanding women to Australian coral reef science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 34 (1) (2023), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22009. Details
• Richards, H. C. and Hill, D., 'Great Barrier Reef bores, 1926 and 1937: description, analyses, interpretations', Report of the Great Barrier Reef Committee, 5 (1942), 1-111. Details
• Simpson, Andrew, 'The work and type collections of the Australian palaeontologist, Professor Dorothy Hill', Geological curator, 7 (2) (1999), 51-70. Details
• Turner, S., 'Invincible but mostly Invisible: Australian Women's Contribution to Geology and Palaeontology', Geological Society Special Publication, 281 (2007), 165-202. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3037171. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93420554. Details
• Dorothy Hill Medal, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 2022. https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/awards-and-opportunities/dorothy-hill-medal. Details
• CA 38, Navy Office [IV], Department of the Navy [II]; CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office, 'NAA: A6769, HILL D', A6769 Service Cards for Navy Officers, 1911-1970, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=5225388. Details
• 'Hill, Dorothy (1907-1997)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-754082. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 1974 [Citation provided]', Honorary awards recipients, University of Queensland, 2023, https://alumni.uq.edu.au/awards/honorary-awards-previous-recipients. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Hill, Dorothy (1907-1997), Biographical Entry', in Australian Women's Archives Project, National Foundation for Australian Women, 2002, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0064b.htm. Details

See also

• Glaessner, M. F.; Shergold, J. H.; and Teichert, C., 'Armin Alexander Öpik 1898-1983', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 267-276. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620267. Details
• Thomis, Malcolm Ian, A Place of Light and Learning: the University of Queensland's First Seventy-Five Years (St Lucia (Qld): University of Queensland Press, 1985), 429 pp. Details