The Lady Principal, Miss Annie Hughston 1859–1943

In 1881 the University of Melbourne opened its doors to women for the first time, but taking up this opportunity was not a simple matter in a community that in general did not value the higher education of women. Another problem was that many women were not eligible for entry due to the gap between the eight years of free education provided in ‘common’ (state) schools and university entrance level. This deficit could only be bridged by paying for tuition. A few common schools offered tuition in some subjects as an ‘extra’, but most university entrants were pupils from independent ‘high’ (i.e. secondary) schools. The options for girls in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne who wanted to qualify for university entrance altered little until the mid-1950s;1 either they travelled to the inner city or entered one of a multitude of independent schools.