About Dorothy Hill

Professor Dorothy Hill was a pioneer of research, a leader for women in science, a woman of action, and one of The University of Queensland’s (UQ) most outstanding graduates.

Dorothy Hill was a well-known figure at the University from the time she was 18 years old and beginning her degree until she retired, aged in her seventies. By then she had become a world-renowned professor.

Throughout her career, she led by example and inspired women to pursue science and a university education. Through her numerous achievements, she helped to advance the place of women in academia.

Dorothy Hill became Australia’s first female Professor, in 1959.

Dorothy advocated for young women to take up the study of science and her professional recognition was an inspiring example for women, who faced workplace inequality in 1970s Australia.

She led by example for many years. Students she had supervised went on to lead schools of Earth Sciences across Australia and overseas.

Dorothy Hill died in April 1997, aged 89. Her bequest of personal papers and donation to The University of Queensland Library continue to support students and researchers. She also left a powerful physical legacy of fossil slides and specimens, and authored over one hundred articles and books. Dorothy’s scientific legacy and her contribution to Queensland continue to inspire new generations of students and scientists, equally keen to make their impact on the world.

Twenty years after her death, Dorothy continues to inspire Australian women pursuing science. Her name is memorialised with a school campus at Coorparoo State School, a research vessel on the Great Barrier Reef, a scholarship at The University of Queensland, a state electorate, a street in the 2018 Commonwealth Games Village, and two medals awarded in her name each year from the Australian Academy of Science and the Geological Society of Australia-Queensland.