Dr Merrilyn Murnane AM (1953) charted her path in paediatrics as a healthcare leader, humanitarian, sponsor and mentor to the next generation of health and education professionals.

After finishing her primary education at the local school in East Kew, Merrilyn attended Presbyterian Ladies’ College and was a prefect in her final two years. All three Murnane girls attended PLC: Merrilyn’s older sister, the late Wendy Murnane (1948), who became a teacher and her younger sister, Lauris Murnane (1955), later a physiotherapist.

After completing her medical degree in 1960 at the University of Melbourne and Ormond College, Merrilyn undertook six months of clinical work in paediatrics in London, followed by training at Great Ormond Street Hospital and completed her Diploma of Child Health. On returning to Melbourne in 1963, she was a paediatric registrar at Queen Victoria Hospital, where she also taught students from Monash University, which had established a clinical school there in obstetrics and paediatrics. During her medical qualifying years, she joined Prince Henry’s Hospital, where she became the first female medical registrar. She recalls: ‘This was a positive year for me, as all the consultants welcomed a woman registrar, and many opportunities were offered to me.’

While Merrilyn was a registrar at the hospital, the professor of paediatrics asked her to work with children presenting in the emergency department who had suffered physical or sexual abuse. Years later as a consultant paediatrician at Monash Medical Centre, Merrilyn observed an alarming number of child abuse cases. This prompted her to establish Victoria’s first child protection unit, at Monash Medical Centre, an accomplishment that gained her the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2005. 

Later in her career, Merrilyn expanded her contribution internationally to work extensively in Papua New Guinea with her late husband, the Reverend Maxwell Griffiths MBE, as well as her former PLC classmate, trailblazer and neurosurgeon, the late Dr Elizabeth Lewis AM (1951). After this first trip to PNG with Elizabeth, Merrillyn returned there each year between 2000 and 2010 with her late husband. Merrilyn and Max established a mobile health unit that served twenty villages in the East Sepik Province of PNG, and also financially supported the education of teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers. Merrilyn remains connected with the community to this day, and one of the women doctors she trained now has a little daughter, whom she named Merrilyn. 

Now retired, Merrilyn continues her philanthropic work, offering mentorship and full scholarships to aspiring doctors and veterinarians to live at Ormond College for the duration of their training, as well continuing to support causes in PNG, where – whether through geographic isolation or lack of resources – many families struggle to obtain an education for their children. Merrilyn has also supported PLC students through needs-based scholarships, giving deserving girls the opportunity to join the College.