Dame Jean Macnamara | |
|---|---|
 Dame Jean Macnamara in 1967 | |
| Born | Annie Jean Macnamara (1899-04-01)1 April 1899 Beechworth, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 13 October 1968(1968-10-13) (aged 69) South Yarra, Victoria, Australia |
| Resting place | Ashes were buried under a mossy rock at Beechworth[1] |
| Education | Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne University of Melbourne |
| Occupation(s) | Australian medical doctor and scientist |
| Spouse | Joseph Ivan Connor (m. 1934) |
| Children | 2 |
DameAnnie Jean ConnornéeMacnamaraDBE (1 April 1899 – 13 October 1968), known asJean Macnamara, was an Australian medical doctor and scientist, best known for her contributions to children's health and welfare. She was honoured as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.[2]
Annie Jean Macnamara was born on 1 April 1899 to John and Annie Macnamara inBeechworth, Victoria.[3] Her family moved toMelbourne when she was seven and she attended Spring Road State School. She received a scholarship to study at thePresbyterian Ladies' College and she entered theUniversity of Melbourne at age 17.[3] She graduated M.B. and B.S. in 1922.[4] Other notable Australians who also graduated in her class included DameKate Isabel Campbell,Lucy Meredith Bryce,Jean Littlejohn, and SirFrank Macfarlane Burnet.[3]
After graduating, she became a resident medical officer at theRoyal Melbourne Hospital.[1] In 1923, Macnamara became a resident doctor at theRoyal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Hospital authorities had at first been reluctant to employ her on the grounds that it had no toilet facilities for women doctors.[5] During her time at the Children's Hospital, there was apolio outbreak. She and Burnet demonstrated that there was more than one strain of the virus, a fact that would be important in the later development of theSalk vaccine. Between 1925 and 1931 she was consultant and medical officer responsible to the Poliomyelitis Committee of Victoria, and between 1930 and 1931 was an honorary adviser on polio to official authorities inNew South Wales,South Australia andTasmania.[1]
In 1931, she received aRockefeller Fellowship to travel to England and United States to studyorthopaedics. She met PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. When she returned to Australia in 1934 she married dermatologist Joseph Ivan Connor, and they had two daughters, Joan and Merran. She conducted a successful orthopaedic work, and for this contribution was created DBE in 1935. Although she was considered the foremost Australian authority on the treatment of poliomyelitis, she continued to recommend the use of convalescent serum and splinting to immobilise limbs long after these treatments were abandoned in America.[6][7]
In the 1930s, she encouraged the Australian government to trial themyxoma virus to combat theAustralian rabbit plague.[8] Although trials were initially unsuccessful, she lobbied that they be continued, and when the virus becameepizootic in 1951, the mosquito vector spread the virus among wild rabbits, killing millions.[9]
Macnamara died at the age of 69 from cardiovascular disease in 1968[1] inSouth Yarra.[10]
Seven other Australian medical scientists were commemorated in the issue of a set of four Australian stamps released in 1995. She appears on the 45 cent stamp with fellowUniversity of Melbourne graduate, SirFrank Macfarlane Burnet.[11]
She was inducted onto theVictorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[12]
In 2018, theAustralian Electoral Commission renamed the federal electoraldivision of Melbourne Ports toMacnamara in her honour.[13]
A suburb ofCanberra was namedMacnamara, Australian Capital Territory in commemoration of Jean Macnamara.[14] Macnamara Place, in the Canberra suburb ofChisholm, is also named in her honour.[15] Jean Macnamara Street and Jean Macnamara Playground in the Canberra suburb ofMacgregor are also named for her.
On 1 April 2020,Google honoured her 121st birthday with aGoogle Doodle.[16]
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