Leonie Kramer
Dame Leonie Kramer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonie Judith Gibson 1 October 1924 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 20 April 2016 (aged 91) |
| Occupation(s) | Scholar, educator, academic administrator |
| Years active | 1958–2001 |
| Known for | Australia's first female professor of English; first female chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; first female chancellor of the University of Sydney |
| Notable work | The Oxford History of Australian Literature (editor) |
Dame Leonie Judith Kramer (1 October 1924 – 20 April 2016) was a distinguished Australian scholar and educator. She holds the distinction of being Australia's first female professor of English, the inaugural woman to chair the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the first female to serve as chancellor of the University of Sydney. Kramer was recognized with prestigious honors, including being named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a Companion of the Order of Australia.
Education
Born as Leonie Gibson in Melbourne on 1 October 1924, Kramer attended Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne before commencing her studies at the University of Melbourne in 1942. During her university years, she was a resident at Janet Clarke Hall and was awarded an A. M. White entrance scholarship. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1945 and later obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University in 1953, where she also held a tutoring position at St Hugh's College.
Career
Kramer's academic career began in 1958 when she joined the University of New South Wales (UNSW) as a lecturer in English. She progressed through roles as senior lecturer and associate professor before being appointed Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney in 1968, marking her as Australia's first female professor in English. She was also a Visiting Professor at Harvard University from 1981 to 1982 and later became Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney. In 1974, Kramer was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Her scholarly research centered on Henry Handel Richardson, and she served as editor for the Oxford History of Australian Literature (1981), which attracted varied critical responses.
Kramer occupied several significant public service roles, including becoming the first woman to chair the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1982 to 1983 after joining its board in 1977. Her leadership during this period was noted for its firmness. Additional appointments included positions on the Secondary Schools Board, National Library Council, NAATI, Universities Council, and as a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. She also acted as commissioner for the NSW Electricity Commission and chaired the board of the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Her corporate governance experience extended to directorships with Western Mining Corporation and ANZ Banking Group.
In acknowledgment of her extensive contributions, Kramer was honored with the first Britannica Award in 1986 for her role in promoting education. She received honorary doctorates from multiple universities and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1976, elevated to Dame Commander in 1982, and later awarded Companion of the Order of Australia in 1993 for her services to literature, education, and community involvement.
At the University of Sydney, Kramer served as deputy chancellor between 1989 and 1991 before becoming its first female chancellor from 1991 to 2001. In 1995, she chaired the Miles Franklin Award panel that controversially selected Helen Darville's novel The Hand That Signed the Paper. That same year, she attracted criticism following comments regarding women's endurance in leadership positions.
Her chancellorship concluded amid internal governance conflicts; she retired in 2001 shortly before a university senate meeting intended to remove her through a no-confidence vote connected to Vice Chancellor Gavin Brown's contract dispute.
Personal life and death
In 1952, Kramer wed Harry Kramer, a pathologist from South Africa, in England. The couple relocated to Australia the following year, in 1953, as Harry was unwilling to return to apartheid-era South Africa. Together they had two daughters, Hillary and Jocelyn. Harry Kramer passed away in 1988.
By 2011, as Leonie Kramer’s Alzheimer's disease progressed, her daughters arranged for her to receive full-time care at Lulworth House. The subsequent year, she suffered a hip fracture there, which greatly reduced her ability to move independently.
Her autobiography, Broomstick: Personal Reflections of Leonie Kramer, was released in 2012 by Australian Scholarly Publishing. She died at the age of 91 on 20 April 2016.
As author
- Henry Handel Richardson and Some of Her Sources (1954)
- A Companion to Australia Felix (1962)
- Myself When Laura: Fact and Fiction in Henry Handel Richardson's School Career (1966)
- Henry Handel Richardson (1967)
- Henry Kendall (1973) (co-authored with A.D. Hope)
- Language and Literature: A Synthesis (1976) (with Robert D. Eagleson)
- A Guide to Language and Literature (1977) (with Robert D. Eagleson)
- A.D. Hope (1979)
- Broomstick: Personal Reflections of Leonie Kramer (2012)
As editor
- Collected Poems (by David Campbell) (1957, 1989)
- Australian Poetry 1961 (1962)
- Coast to Coast: Australian Stories 1963–1964 (1965)
- Selected Stories (by Hal Porter) (1971)
- The Oxford History of Australian Literature (1981)
- The Oxford Anthology of Australian Literature (1985) (with Adrian Mitchell)
- My Country: Australian Poetry and Stories: Two Hundred Years (1985)
- James McAuley: Poetry, Essays and Personal Commentary (1988)
- The Multicultural Experiment: Immigrants, Refugees and National Identity (2003)