Mary Herring's work was mainly with poor women, many of whom lived in unsanitary conditions and had inadequate diets.
24 Facts About Mary Herring
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Mary Herring recognised that pregnant women in particular needed more information about what was happening to them, and provided information on birth control at a time when many doctors and a large segment of the community were opposed to it.
3.
Mary Herring served on its Welfare Subcommittee, looking after the needs of soldiers' families, and was president of the association from 1943 to 1946.
4.
Mary Herring Ranken Lyle was born in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton on 31 March 1895, the eldest of four children of Sir Thomas Ranken Lyle, a mathematical physicist, and his wife, Frances Isobel Clare nee Millear.
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Mary Herring attended Toorak College between 1906 and 1912, where she excelled both academically and at sport, playing tennis, hockey, netball, and cricket, and competing in swimming.
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Mary Herring was captain of the women's tennis and hockey teams, obtaining University Sporting Blue in both sports.
7.
Mary Herring's ambition was to become a doctor who improved the lives of women and children.
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Elizabeth II 8.
Mary Herring met her future husband, Ned Herring, when he arrived back in Melbourne at last on 26 November 1920.
9.
Mary Herring graduated with her dual Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree in March 1921, achieving first-class honours in all subjects, with a first in medicine and fourth in surgery.
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Mary Herring won the Keith Levi Memorial Scholarship in medicine and the Sameson Prize in clinical medicine, and became a resident surgeon at Royal Melbourne Hospital under Sir Alan Newton.
11.
Mary Herring asked Herring if she would be willing to establish such a clinic, which would be open one day a week.
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Mary Herring had the district nurses spread word of the clinic.
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Mary Herring's work was mainly with poor women, many of whom lived in unsanitary conditions and had inadequate diets.
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Mary Herring joined the Melbourne District Nursing Society in 1931 and was its vice president from 1943 to 1953.
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Mary Herring banded together with George Simpson and Victor Wallace to establish the Women's Welfare Clinic to offer advice on birth control, at a time when many doctors and a large segment of the community were opposed to it.
16.
Mary Herring served on its Welfare Subcommittee, looking after the needs of soldiers' families, and was president of the association from 1943 to 1946.
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Mary Herring became Lady Herring in May 1943 when Ned was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
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When Ned became acting governor for eight months in February 1949, Mary Herring found Government House to be in a state of disrepair.
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Mary Herring successfully lobbied James Kennedy for funds for its refurbishment, and supervised the work personally.
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Mary Herring played tennis and golf, and when her two eldest daughters began playing hockey at school, Herring's interest in hockey was rekindled.
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In 1953, Mary Herring travelled to London to attend the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which she viewed from a seat inside Westminster Abbey.
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Mary Herring was a foundation member and first president of the Victorian Council of Social Service when it was formed in 1946, and chairman of the Vera Scantlebury Brown Memorial Trust from 1946 to 1979.
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Mary Herring was a deputy-president of the Victorian division of the Australian Red Cross from 1944 to 1963, of the Victoria League from 1945 to 1972, and of the Australian council of the Save the Children Fund from 1962 to 1967.
24.
Mary Herring planned a state funeral at St Paul's Cathedral for Ned, who died a few months after her on 5 January 1982.