In the decades before female students were admitted to College as residents, the Ormond Women’s Association (OWA) was an important source of camaraderie, networking and support.

In the early twentieth century, Ormond’s women students were all non-residents and were still a significant minority at College as well as at university and in the workplace. Whilst Ormond welcomed women students from 1885, and had up to 80 in the early decades, their numbers were much smaller in the early decades of the twentieth century. There were only 20 women students when the OWA was formed in 1921, and the number remained similar for decades. As well as being few in number, female students had limited involvement in the life of the College beyond attendance at tutorials: they sewed flags and costumes; baked sweets and were occasionally invited to social events, but were not residents and did not eat in the Dining Hall.

In this context, the OWA provided extra support and community for Ormond women. It held regular meetings in which alumni and female students could network and socialise, sometimes at the Lyceum Club, a Melbourne association of women graduates.

OWA members at an Association tennis match in 1939.

The OWA also facilitated connections with women of other colleges by fielding players in an intercollegiate women’s tennis competition, which Ormond rarely won. In addition, the Association offered financial support in the form of a scholarship for a female student. Practical assistance was on offer, too: student members of the OWA had a common room at Ormond which had flowers provided by the Master’s wife. Deciding it needed a freshen up, in 1955 students redecorated the space in ‘primrose yellow and grey paint, with cherry curtains.’

The OWA also had also a dedicated women’s tennis court that was commissioned by Master David Picken, the father of six daughters and a supporter of women in college, who they noted “has always been willing to further their cause and has taken a keen interest in the careers of all women students, ever ready to advise them in their courses and encourage them in their work.” Under his leadership numbers rose. The Chronicle reported that from “being a mere handful they have gradually increased in strength until now they are a real part of the life of the College”. 

A report on an intercollegiate women’s event in 1939.

Many OWA members went on to make important contributions to their communities. Whilst their career choices were limited and often curtailed entirely when they married, Ormond women went on to successful careers as academics, school principals, doctors and teachers. Others made significant contributions in their local community and supported their husbands’ careers, some returning to speak to the group about life as an expatriate in a far-flung country.

Later in the twentieth century, the OWA was instrumental in the foundation of a new college intended as a women’s counterpart to Ormond. As early as the 1920s the idea of a dedicated residential college for Presbyterian women was mooted. The tentative plan gained greater urgency in the mid 1940s when the university began to provide the small group tutorials that had previously been provided only by colleges, reducing the appeal to women of becoming a non-resident member of a male college.

In order to provide women with the full residential college experience, in the late 1950s members of the OWA joined with representatives from Queen’s College to form an interim Council for a new women’s college. St Hilda’s College was the result. The women were led by Ormondian Lady Alice Paton CBE, who was Chairman of the Council of St Hilda’s and its founding President. Ormond women raised significant funds, provided a scholarship and provided in-kind support to the new college, which opened in 1964.

With St Hilda’s able to cater amply for female undergraduates, Ormond ceased to admit women and OWA eventually disbanded around 1967, having provided nearly fifty years of camaraderie and support to college women. In the following decade, Ormond was one of the first colleges to become fully co-educational, and female students now outnumber their male counterparts 55:45. 

Reports on the OWA’s activities appeared on the women’s pages of Melbourne newspapers, amongst reports on social events and advertisements for fashion and health products.

Share your Ormond story

Every Ormondian has their own unique experience of College life, and their own story to tell. What Ormond moment stands out in your memory? Whether on the sporting field or the stage, in the JCR, Dining Hall or on Picken Lawn, share your favourite story of life at Ormond College.