Emma
Constance Stone (1856-1902) (right), her sister Grace Clara Stone (1860-1957)
and their cousin Emily Mary Page Stone (1865-1910) changed the medical
profession and health care for the poor in Victoria.
Their brother, William Stone (1858-1949), was a member of the University's
Faculty of Engineering for more than 30 years and worked as Chief Electrical
Engineer in the newly-formed Electrical Engineering Branch of the Victorian
Railways from 1913 to 1920.
Because the University of Melbourne would not admit women to its medical
course, Constance Stone took her first degrees in Pennsylvania and London,
returning in 1890 to become the first woman to register with the Medical
Board of Victoria. Determined to set up a hospital staffed by women
for women, she began part-time practice at Dr Singleton's mission in
Collingwood.
Her sister Clara was one of the seven women first permitted to enter
the Medical School, in 1887. She and Margaret Whyte graduated in 1891,
the first two women to do so, and Clara joined her sister's private
practice, also working with Dr Singleton.
Mary Stone graduated in 1893, and despite coming sixth in the final
examination, was refused residency at the Melbourne Hospital which did
not admit women residents until 1896. She set up private practice in
Windsor, moving later to Hawthorn.
All three women were strongly involved in the professional network
of women doctors. The first meeting of the Victorian Medical Women's
Society was convened at Constance Stone's house and she was its foundation
President.
In 1896, 11 doctors resolved to set up their own hospital. What began
as an outpatients' dispensary grew, through public subscription, into
the Queen Victoria Hospital, opened in 1899.
Constance Stone died of tuberculosis: her sister continued to practice
at the Queen Victoria Hospital until 1919, when she returned entirely
to private practice. Mary Stone continued to work at the hospital, as
well as being heavily involved with the National Council of Women. An
operating theatre in the Queen Victoria Hospital Outpatients' Department
was named in her honour.
