Breaking new ground: the story of Dagmar Berne

In 1885 a young country girl enrolled in medicine at Sydney University. She was the first woman in Australia to enroll in a medical school. The medical school at this time was heavily influenced by academics who had graduated from the University of Edinburgh. At one point in her medical education she experienced difficulties with her examinations, the reasons for which are a point for debate. Under the mentorship of a famous British female medical practitioner who was visiting Australia at the time, she continued her studies in the United Kingdom. Here she was successful and returned to practice in New South Wales in 1895. Her experience of medical education was not without suffering. This young woman became part of an international group of women who at the time were trying to break into a field dominated by men.