Portrait of Constance Stone (1852-1902) c.1890
Date
1987
Description
Constance Stone
The pioneer lady physician of Australia
Obituary, Australian Town and Country Journal, 7 January 1903, p. 38
"Dr. Emma Constance Stone [1856–1902], the pioneer lady physician of Australia, died on December 29, at the residence of her sister, Miss Clara Stone, M.B., Alma-road, St. Kilda, Melbourne. Dr. Stone, who was the daughter of a London contractor, was born in Hobart 46 years ago, and at an early age turned her attention to the study of anatomy. Her taste for science was inherited, her father being, even at an advanced age, a student of biology. On the advice of the Rev. D. Egryn Jones, M.R.C.S., who subsequently became her husband, she decided to study medicine. The idea was almost unheard of in Australia, and Miss Stone, after careful inquiry, went to Philadelphia where she studied at the Women’s Medical College, the eldest medical college for women in the world. She studied later at Toronto, where she graduated as M.D. in 1888. In the following year Dr. Stone was continuing her studies in London, and in 1890 she settled in Melbourne, and commenced the practice of her profession. Dr. Stone experienced a little of the old-world prejudice against women doctors, but it quickly disappeared; and her successful entry into the medical world was the means of encouraging several other young women, who came forward when the Melbourne University was thrown open to them. Dr. Stone, a few years later headed a band of earnest workers in the interests of poor women in the city, to whom their services were given free. The result of this movement was the establishment of the Queen Victoria Hospital. Dr. Stone was also deeply interested in the women’s suffrage cause, and on several occasions spoke in public on its behalf. In recent years, however, her attention was exclusively devoted to her profession, in which her zeal and ability caused her to take a very high position."
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