Today is the anniversary of a momentous occasion for both a PLC alumna and all Australian women. It was the day Flos Greig was admitted to the legal profession, becoming Australia’s first female lawyer.

When Grata Flos Greig began her quest to become a lawyer, Victorian law did not consider her a person, let alone allow people of her gender to practice the profession. She didn’t let that hinder her and on this day 120 years ago became the first woman in Victoria to be a lawyer. 

This achievement was the culmination of more than just the years of study required to prepare for a legal career: she had to change the law. Flos Greig successfully petitioned the Victorian Parliament to permit women to be lawyers, arguing that they were more than capable of joining the profession. “Women are men’s equals in every way,” she told a journalist in 1903, “and they are quite competent to hold their own in all spheres of life.” 

The Victorian Parliament acceded to her demands and passed a bill nicknamed the ‘Flos Greig Enabling Act’ which stipulated that no one could be precluded by their gender from becoming a lawyer. This was not just a momentous occasion for the bill’s namesake: it was a watershed moment for the nation. Soon all other Australian states had followed suit and also permitted women to practice law.

Flos Greig’s ambition to practice law was born at PLC, where she was an outstanding student, once being singled out by an examiner for achieving near-perfect marks in an examination on ancient Greek mathematician Euclid. Also influential was her family. In an era where very few women went on to tertiary education, Flos was one of four sisters who gained degrees, two of whom became medical doctors.

Having paved the way for Australian women to become lawyers, Flos Greig continued her contribution to Australian life through a long legal career whilst contributing to campaigns for justice and legal rights for women and children.