Alison Patrick (historian)

Alison Mary Houston Patrick FAHA (nee Hamer; 24 March 1921 – 16 March 2009) was an Australian historian and scholar of the French Revolution. In 1977 she was the first woman elected head of the Department of History at the University of Melbourne.

Alison Patrick
Born
Alison Mary Houston Hamer

(1921-03-24)24 March 1921
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Died16 March 2009(2009-03-16) (aged 87)
Canterbury, Victoria, Australia
RelativesRupert Hamer (1916–2004)
David Hamer (1923–2002)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Melbourne

Early life and education edit

Alison Mary Houston Hamer was born on 24 March 1921 in Kew, Victoria.[1] She was the third child and only daughter of former nurse Nancy (née McLuckie) and solicitor Hubert Hamer.[2] Her brothers included Sir Rupert Hamer, Premier of Victoria and David Hamer, federal Liberal politician. She was educated at St Catherine's School in Toorak and then graduated with a BA from the University of Melbourne in 1942 and was awarded the Dwight Prize. Her PhD thesis was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1972.[3]

Career edit

Patrick's career as an academic at the University of Melbourne began in 1946 when she was employed in a part-time role. In 1963 she was appointed lecturer, progressing to reader.[4] In 1977 she was the first woman to be elected head of the Department of History at the University of Melbourne. Not long before her retirement in 1986, Patrick accepted the role of head of the Italian Department at the university.[5]

She was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[2]

Selected works edit

  • Patrick, Alison (1972), The Men of the First French Republic: Political Alignments in the National Convention of 1792, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-1-4214-3321-9

Personal edit

Patrick married James Finlay Patrick in 1944.[2] She died in Canterbury, Victoria on 16 March 2009 and was survived by three of her four children and their families.[6] Her husband predeceased her on 8 November 2004.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ "Patrick, Alison Mary Houston". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Sowerwine, Charles. "Patrick, Alison Mary Houston". The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  3. ^ Patrick, Alison (1972), The Men of the First French Republic: Political Alignments in the National Convention of 1792, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-1-4214-3321-9
  4. ^ McPhee, Peter (1 April 2009). "Alison Mary Houston Patrick (24 mars 1921 – 16 mars 2009)". Annales historiques de la Révolution française (356): 209–210. doi:10.4000/ahrf.10641. ISSN 0003-4436.
  5. ^ McPhee, Peter. "Alison Patrick (1921–2009)" (PDF). Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  6. ^ McPhee, Peter (9 April 2009). "Maintained family's tradition of high achievement with learned French work". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  7. ^ "James Patrick Obituary (2004)". Legacy.com: Herald Sun. 9 November 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2022.