Grace Vale
{{Short description|Australian physician and suffragist (1860–1933)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox person
| name = Grace Vale
| image = Grace Vale.jpg
| caption = Grace Vale in Melbourne c. 1894
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1860|05|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Richmond, Victoria, Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1933|12|22|1860|05|14|df=y}}
| death_place = Black Rock, Victoria, Australia
| education = University of Melbourne
| occupation = {{hlist|medical doctor}}
| relatives = {{unbulleted list|Richard Taylor Vale (Uncle)}}
| known_for = {{unbulleted list|Women’s rights advocate| Public health advocate}}
}}
Grace Vale (14 May 1860 – 22 December 1933) was an Australian medical doctor and suffragist who devoted much of her career to improvement of health services for women and children in Victoria and New South Wales in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially in rural areas. In 1887, she was one of the seven women who convinced Melbourne University to lift their ban on women studying medicine, so they could enrol. She became one of the first women to graduate as a medical doctor in Australia.
Early life and education
Grace Vale was born in the then British colony of Victoria, in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, on 14 May 1860.NSW Public Service Lists, 1920, page 178Victorian Register of Births No 7102/1860 She was the first of six daughters of bookseller and later prominent Victorian politician, William Mountford Kinsey Vale (1833–1895) and his wife Rachel Lennox.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vale-william-mountford-kinsey-4770|title = Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter = Vale, William Mountford Kinsey (1833–1895)|publisher = National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}} Her sister, May Vale, was an Australian painter.{{Citation|last=McGrath|first=Joyce|title=Vale, May (1862–1945)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vale-may-8903|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|place=Canberra|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2020-09-13}} Grace Vale received part of her education in England, where her parents had married the year before her birth, but was mostly educated in Victoria.
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139707207 |title=THE WOMEN DOCTORS OF VICTORIA: MISS GRACE VALE, M.B. |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=LVIII |issue=1510 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 March 1895 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}} She passed her matriculation examination in 1882,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11529826 |title=THE MATRICULATION EXAMINATION. |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=11,104 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 January 1882 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} and had been studying biology at Melbourne University in 1887{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190643188 |title=UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. |newspaper=The Age |issue=10,141 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 August 1887 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} when she became one of seven members of a group who, despite some strong opposition, were admitted as its first female medical school students.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197167153 |title=FEMALE MEDICAL STUDENTS. |newspaper=The Age |issue=10,177 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 October 1887 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} Before her graduation in 1894, some of her clinical experience was gained at the Alfred and Women's and Children's Hospitals.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139707207 |title=THE WOMEN DOCTORS OF VICTORIA: MISS GRACE VALE, M.B. |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=LVIII |issue=1510 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 March 1895 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Career and other activities
After graduating, Vale went into private practise, taking over the Collins Street consulting rooms in Collins Street formerly used by Margaret Whyte, a fellow Melbourne University graduate who had suspended practising after getting married.{{cite news|date=24 April 1896|title=Personal.|page=2|newspaper=Table Talk|issue=565|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145921688|access-date=2 September 2020|via=National Library of Australia}} Outside her daily medical practice, Vale took a leading role in a range of groups. In March 1895, she was a foundation member of the Victorian Medical Women's Society.{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0524b.htm|title = Victorian Medical Women's Society - Organisation - the Australian Women's Register}} The following month, she was elected one of the vice-presidents of the Victorian Woman's Suffrage League. The election came at the annual meeting of the League, held in the rooms of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, another organisation in which Vale would play a prominent part.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193471847 |title=WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE LEAGUE. |newspaper=The Age |issue=12,516 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=10 April 1895 |access-date=1 September 2020 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} Early in 1896, it was through the WCTU, that she would become involved in a scheme to provide free medical advice and "at cost" medicines to female factory workers in Melbourne.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193983128 |title=GIRLS' CLUBS. |newspaper=The Age |issue=12822 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 April 1896 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58279667 |title=TEMPERANCE NOTES. |newspaper=Mercury And Weekly Courier |issue=1083 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 April 1896 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} She would also be vice-president of a Working Girls' Recreation and Improvement Club in the inner suburb of Collingwood,{{cite news|date=28 February 1896|title=TOPICS OF THE DAY.|page=2|newspaper=The Herald|issue=4885|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241298779|access-date=2 September 2020|via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221171921 |title=Working Girls' Club. |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=1394 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 April 1896 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}} which her father had once represented in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, and where he had died from Bright's disease a few months earlier.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vale-william-mountford-kinsey-4770|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Vale, William Mountford Kinsey (1833–1895)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}
However, despite her early activities in Melbourne, Vale was destined to become the only pioneer female medical graduate not to spend the majority of her career in an Australian capital city. In April 1896, Vale left Melbourne to set up a new private practice in the Victorian gold mining city of Ballarat,{{cite news|date=24 April 1896|title=Personal.|page=2|newspaper=Table Talk|issue=565|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145921688|access-date=2 September 2020|via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199615793 |title=ITEMS OF NEWS. |newspaper=Mount Alexander Mail |issue=11,533 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 April 1896 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} which her father had also represented in the Legislative Assembly. At the time of her move, the Assembly seat of Ballarat West previously held by her father was held by her uncle, Richard Taylor Vale.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vale-william-mountford-kinsey-4770|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Vale, William Mountford Kinsey (1833–1895)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}} He shared her commitment to women’s suffrage, and for example when he chaired a "well-attended" public meeting in Ballarat to advocate the cause, she would be on the platform with him.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206971895 |title=WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=13810 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 July 1900 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}
After establishing her new practice in Ballarat, Vale took on many other activities, mainly related to women's or children's health or welfare. By September 1898, she was President of Ballarat's Women’s Health and Home Protection Society, which provided cookery and other classes for women,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215231135 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=44 |issue=13247 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 September 1898 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215231714 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=44 |issue=13257 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 October 1898 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and through the WCTU she would promote healthy diets for women.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58573148 |title=Women's Christian Temperance Union. |newspaper=Mercury And Weekly Courier |issue=1218 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 November 1898 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
The following year, Vale became one of the first two female members of the influential Ballarat City Board of Advice, set up to monitor conditions in government schools. Advocates of female suffrage were reportedly "jubilant" at the appointments.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188667127 |title=WOMEN'S FRANCHISE. |newspaper=The Age |issue=13939 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 November 1899 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216753351 |title=CITY BOARD OF ADVICE. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=45 |issue=13603 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 November 1899 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Vale would remain on the Board of Advice for about a decade, serving periods as its president and vice-president. As a board member, issues she would promote would include cooking classes for girls,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207502064 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=14103 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 July 1901 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207622829 |title=STATE SCHOOL COOKERY CLASSES |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=14320 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 March 1902 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} and swimming classes for all children, including girls, at a time when they had been mainly for boys.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208359576 |title=GITY BOARD OF ADYCE |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=14854 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 December 1903 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189430132 |title=COUNTRY NEWS. |newspaper=The Age |issue=15,485 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 October 1904 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211281375 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=51 |issue=15448 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=10 November 1905 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
From 1906 to 1909, Vale was one of two vice-presidents of the Victorian School Boards Association.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201669474 |title=THE EDUCATION SYSTEM. |newspaper=The Age |issue=16096 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 October 1906 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210687349 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=52 |issue=15734 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 October 1906 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202189278 |title=BOARDS OF ADVICE. |newspaper=The Age |issue=16727 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 October 1908 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} At its annual conference in Bendigo in 1908, she moved a successful motion calling for the regular fumigation of all Victorian state schools "and not by the burning of a cake of sulphur in the building, as is now generally done".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89419522 |title=EVENING SESSION. |newspaper=Bendigo Advertiser |volume=LVI |issue=16,604 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 October 1908 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} She successfully raised the issue again at the Association's conference the following year in Ballarat, but was defeated in a move to have first aid lessons substituted for the preliminary artistic skill of "brush work" in government schools.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196043419 |title=BOARDS OF ADVICE. |newspaper=The Age |issue=17,032 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 October 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218794499 |title=BOARDS OF ADVICE. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=55 |issue=16656 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 October 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218794634 |title=BOARDS OF ADVICE. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=55 |issue=16657 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 October 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} First aid had long been one of Vale's passions, often giving lectures through the St John Ambulance Association in Ballarat.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206966340 |title=ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=13906 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 November 1900 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207499937 |title=ST JOHN AMBULANCE SOCIETY |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=14083 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 June 1901 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208366643 |title=ST. JOHN AMBULANCE PRIZES. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=14554 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 December 1902 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Vale was president of the Ballarat Board of Advice in 1908, when Victoria became the last Australian state to give women the right to vote. She then lobbied the newly-elected Victorian government to spend more on Ballarat's state schools and an accommodation facility for kindergarten teachers.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216773678 |title=LATEST FORECAST. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=54 |issue=16396 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 December 1908 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218781229 |title=THE WEATHER. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=54 |issue=16549 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 June 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218782568 |title=MINISTER AND DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=54 |issue=16560 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 June 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218782591 |title=CENTRAL SCHOOL. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=54 |issue=16560 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 June 1909 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Vale made no secret of her affinity with the Liberal Party. Early in 1910, she was elected president of the Ballarat women's branch of the Commonwealth Liberal League, a national group set up to support Liberal Party candidates.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216047098 |title=WOMEN IN POLITICS. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=55 |issue=16758 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 February 1910 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216050896 |title=WOMEN'S LIBERAL LEACUE. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=55 |issue=16787 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 March 1910 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} In May 1910, soon after he had lost a federal election, former Liberal Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader Alfred Deakin accepted an invitation to address a meeting of the Ballarat women's branch, chaired by Vale.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10853557 |title=CAMPAIGN LESSONS. |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=19,900 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 May 1910 |access-date=2 September 2020 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} Thirty years earlier, before Vale's father briefly served as Victoria's Attorney-General, he and Deakin had shared a room in Melbourne as young barristers.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vale-william-mountford-kinsey-4770|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Vale, William Mountford Kinsey (1833–1895)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}
In October 1910, Vale became the first woman to be appointed a Public Vaccinator in Victoria. Her appointment covered the whole south-western district of the state.Victoria Government Gazette No 130, 5 October 1910, page 4582 Under state legislation, those holding such positions provided free compulsory vaccinations to children of parents who could not afford obtain them from their normal family doctor.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184301350 |title=VACCINATION LAW. |newspaper=The Age |issue=17,184 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 April 1910 |access-date=5 September 2020 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Another area of Vale’s involvement in Ballarat was in the training of nurses. Just before the outbreak of World War I, for example, she was giving a lecture in "home nursing".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154615417 |title=METEOROLOCICAL. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |issue=18,121 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 July 1914 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Once war broke out, she was reported to have women in training for formation of a possible Australian nurses' brigade.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73314869 |title=BALLARAT WOMEN TAKE ACTION. |newspaper=The Ballarat Courier |volume=[?]VII |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 August 1914 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=4 (DAILY.) |via=National Library of Australia}}
Nevertheless, in April 1915 she accepted an appointment as one of the first female Medical Officers employed by the NSW Department of Public Instruction.{{cite news|date=19 April 1915|title=IN THE PUBLIC EYE|page=8|newspaper=The Herald|issue=12,209|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242352759|access-date=3 September 2020|via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229420916 |title=SPECIAL GAZETTE UNDER THE "PUBLIC SERVICE ACT, 1902." APPOINTMENTS. |newspaper=Government Gazette Of The State Of New South Wales |issue=124 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 July 1915 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=4025 |via=National Library of Australia}} It would mean that over the next few years, she would be responsible for basic health check-ups of many thousands of NSW school children. As an example, in one three-week period in 1916, she and one colleague would inspect between 1400 and 1500 children at a school in Lithgow.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218726094 |title=SCHOOL CHILDREN'S HEALTH. |newspaper=Lithgow Mercury |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 July 1916 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Vale would travel widely to schools throughout rural NSW, but would make occasional visits back to Victoria. "The Vale family in Ballarat are rejoicing over the temporary return to the fold of their brilliant relative, Dr. Grace Vale, who not long since received an appointment on the medical staff of the NSW Education Department," reported one newspaper in January 1919. "Dr. Vale is spending her vacation in Ballarat before commencing the new year's strenuous' programme."{{cite news|date=30 January 1919|title=SYDNEY WEEK BY WEEK|page=2|newspaper=Table Talk|issue=1749|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148561639|access-date=3 September 2020|via=National Library of Australia}}
Vale retired in mid-1925{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245225882 |title=WENTWORTH PARTIES |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=14,214 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 June 1925 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and went to live with one of her sisters in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Black Rock.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141388163 |title=WOMAN'S REALM |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=CXXVII |issue=4,216 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 October 1929 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Death
During her retirement, Vale gave occasional talks on medical inspections in schools{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96670130 |title=Advertising |newspaper=Bunyip |issue=4,229 |location=South Australia |date=21 March 1930 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} before her death in Black Rock on 22 December 1933. She was buried the following day at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery in Charman Road.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11723856 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=27,256 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 December 1933 |access-date=3 September 2020 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.focrc.org/graves|title=Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Inc. | Burial Search and Relationship Program}} Vale never married, and is not known to have had any children.
References
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Category:Australian general practitioners
Category:University of Melbourne alumni
Category:19th-century Australian medical doctors
Category:19th-century Australian women medical doctors
Category:Australian suffragists
Category:People from the Colony of Victoria