Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.), Saturday 24 November 1928, page 6
OLDEST WOMAN DOCTOR!
EXPERIENCES IN AUSTRALIA.
The "Sunday Times," London, publishes the report of an interview with Dr. Harriet Clisby, who is said to be the oldest woman medical practitioner in the world. Dr. Clisby, who is in her 99th year, spent her youth in Australia. She said to the interviewer:—
"I was born in St. James's, very near the Palace, and christened in St. Margaret's, Westminster. My father was a corn merchant in Park Lane. Tiring of business, he took the whole family to Australia in 1837, when I was seven. Adelaide was at that time nothing but a forest, with the names of the streets nailed on to trees. We slept in hammocks for a week or two, wakening to the screech of cockatoos and parrots, which looked down at us in their hundreds from the branches above. One cow, which belonged to the Governor, afforded the little community its only milk supply. We lived in tents for a year or so, felling trees to clear the land, and then we all took a hand in building a little pise, or mud hut, which had a reed roof.
"We lived there till I was about nine, and then came the long trek to the bush. We had to wait for two drays which my father had ordered, and for some cattle to come overland, but at last, with our four bullocks and our little flock of geese, goats, and one pig, we set out, my mother perched on the top of all our small belongings piled on one of the drays. When we reached the bush, the two carpenters whom father had sent on ahead had built us a nice little house of eucalyptus bark.
"It had no windows, but mother had some beautiful curtains which shut out the night. We had to make all our own furniture, of course. Our seats were simply logs of wood, each one cut to the size of the other.
"It would be wrong, to say I was ever educated, or even ^brought up.' I 'brought* myself up in the bush, where I looked after my little family of goats, pigs, and geese, taking them to a field every morning, far enough away to avoid their returning on their own and demolishing our little vegetable garden, which was enclosed only by a fence of interwoven boughs.
"We had two beautiful ponies which had been brought' to us by sea. The mare, Mettle, had Arab blood in her veins, and we called her little foal Lightning, because she was born in a thunder and lightning storm. Mettle twice saved my life—once from a bull, and once when I was trapped in a forest fire. On another occasion I was attacked by a herd of wild cattle, and took refuge in an oak tree. Our favourite bulldog was the hero then, for he fastened on to the tail of an enormous bull, whose infuriated efforts to cast him off scattered the rest of the herd.
''My chief joy in life was opossum hunting, for the only food we had was kangaroo and opossum food. But my life in Australia was full of interest. The natives were very friendly, and brought us fish from 20 miles away. It was a red-letter day when we took our dray and went down to the ships, which came in only once a year, and brought different things like chests of tea, sugar, and so on. If we forgot something one year, we had to do without until the next!
"When I was 15 we returned to Adelaide, where efforts were made to make me forego my short prairie frock for fashionable long skirts. I am afraid I was the despair of fashionable dressmakers, but I gave in only because mother wanted it.
"I had learnt shorthand when I was 14, and at 28 I was running a community home in Adelaide for the rescue of women prisoners, and editing the first phonographic magazine for Sir (then Mr.) Isaac Pitman, when Dr. Elizabeth Hackwell published her first pamphlet about medicine for women.
"I wanted to get to America badly, but, though I had left money in Australia to be sent to me monthly, I received only one remittance. I met a celebrated homeopathic doctor, however, who introduced me to a head surgeon of Guy's Hospital, and I was allowed to enter, hut only as a private nurse like the other women, as they had no permit to take me as a student.
"I had already a good experience of many troubles and diseases, and meanwhile I wrote a lecture which I showed to an agent, who got me work light away. He sent me to Bristol, where I gave my first lecture, and returned with six guineas in my pocket—the first money I ever earned!
"I then went to stay with a Mr. Jones, a celebrated spiritualist, and his daughters, and as a token of friendship he gave me a parting cheque for £20. Now, I thought, I'll get to America!
"I reached New York, and after many (missing line) college there open to women, of which Dr. Clemence Losier was Dean. Here I studied for three years, winning my diploma in 1905, in spite of fierce and organised opposition from the male students, and some of the doctors. The women students were actually protected by a guard of honour sent by the major!
"In 1885 I left Boston for Europe, and settled in Geneva, where I founded L'Union des Femmes. In 1910 I was invited to give a lecture in the Queen's Hall, and in 1911 I returned to London for good. But, although I had retired from actual practice, I continued to give occasional lectures up to the last two years, and even now I am open to give any spiritual, hygienic, or psychological assistance I can to anyone who wishes me to help them—just to keep my hand in, you know."
