Brief description
Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her service to education, particularly in the field of history, on 26 January 1989, Kathleen Fitzpatrick was the first woman council member of the National Library of Australia, and a foundation member of the Australian Humanities Research Council (later the Australian Academy of Humanities).Full description
Fitzpatrick was educated at Loreto Convents (Albert Park and Portland), Presentation Convent (Windsor) and Lauriston Girls' School (Melbourne) before attending the University of Melbourne. Following completion of her honours degree, in 1926, Fitzpatrick went to Oxford to complete another undergraduate degree - a common practice at the time. Returning to Australia she found employment at the University of Sydney before becoming a tutor in the English department at the University of Melbourne in 1930. Upon marriage, in 1932, to journalist (later historian) Brian Fitzpatrick, she had to resign her position at the University.
Following the failure of her marriage, Fitzpatrick was advised by the University Appointments Board that 'the only demand for female workers was for good secretaries'. It was recommended that she become proficient in typewriting and shorthand if she wanted to find employment. She enrolled at the Melbourne Technical School (now the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), completed the required subjects and became a teacher of Shorthand and Commercial English at the school. In 1938 Fitzpatrick was offered her old position at the University of Melbourne. Before retiring in 1962 she held positions of lecturer, senior lecturer and associate professor of history.
During World War II Fitzpatrick was president of the Council for Women in War. She negotiated with employers on behalf of University of Melbourne women students working at Shepparton under Manpower regulations. In her retirement Fitzpatrick concentrated on research and writing and was disappointed in not being able to find a publisher for her magnum opus, a book on the novelist Henry James.
Former student, professional historian and close friend Manning Clark read the eulogy at the Requiem Mass for Kathleen Fitzpatrick held at St Thomas Aquinas, South Yarra on Friday 31 August 1990.
Kathleen Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (1905-1990), historian, was born on 7 September 1905 at Omeo, Victoria, second of four children of Victorian-born parents Henry Arthur Pitt, civil servant, and his wife...
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, nee Pitt, was born on 7 September 1905 in Omeo, Victoria. She attended Melbourne University, graduating with honours in Arts in 1926. She then went to Oxford where she completed another under- graduate degree. Returning to Australia she briefly found employment at Sydney University before becoming a tutor in the University of Melbourne's English department in 1930, a position she was forced to resign upon her marriage to then journalist, Brian Fitzpatrick, in 1932. Following the failure of the marriage a couple of years later, she taught shorthand and typing for several years before being appointed lecturer in the University's History Department in 1938. She remained there until her retirement in 1962, becoming Associate Professor in 1948. Renowned for her inspirational teaching, she exerted a powerful influence over several generations of historians. Her best known publications are 'Sir John Franklin in Tasmania' (1949), 'Australian Explorers' (1953) and the highly-acclaimed 'Solid Bluestone Foundations' in 1983. A foundation member of the Australian Humanities Research Council and Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, Kathleen Fitzpatrick was awarded an Order of Australia in 1989. She died on 27 August, 1990.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, nee Pitt, was born on 7 September 1905 in Omeo, Victoria. She attended Melbourne University, graduating with honours in Arts in 1926. She then went to Oxford where she completed another under- graduate degree. Returning to Australia she briefly found employment at Sydney University before becoming a tutor in the University of Melbourne's English department in 1930, a position she was forced to resign upon her marriage to then journalist, Brian Fitzpatrick, in 1932. Following the failure of the marriage a couple of years later, she taught shorthand and typing for several years before being appointed lecturer in the University's History Department in 1938. She remained there until her retirement in 1962, becoming Associate Professor in 1948. Renowned for her inspirational teaching, she exerted a powerful influence over several generations of historians. Her best known publications are 'Sir John Franklin in Tasmania' (1949), 'Australian Explorers' (1953) and the highly-acclaimed 'Solid Bluestone Foundations' in 1983. A foundation member of the Australian Humanities Research Council and Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, Kathleen Fitzpatrick was awarded an Order of Australia in 1989. She died on 27 August, 1990.
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Identifiers
- AU-ANU:ADBO : A170395
- AU-AIAS:AUTH : A16808
- AU-CaAIA : XX16808
- AuCNLKIN : abv01265714
- AU-AuCNL : 79829
- lcnaf : n 83140229
- AU-AuCNLKIN : 35764284
- Handle : 11343/126833
- Handle : 11343/62336
- AU-ANU:ADBO : adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fitzpatrick-kathleen-elizabeth-12500
- AU-VU:AWR : www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0619b.htm
- AuCNLKIN : nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35764284
- NLA : nla.party-565492
