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Anna Stirling Pope, a historian on the Stirling family, lives in Australia. She kindly provided this information. "That in the opinion of this House, women who fulfill the conditions and possess the qualifications on which the parliamentary franchise for the Legislative Council is granted to men, shall, like them, be admitted to the franchise for both Houses of Parliament."
Stirling’s motion to the South Australian House of Assembly, 22 July 1885. Edward Charles Stirling was a ‘Renaissance man’, who possessed a profound interest in and knowledge of many topics. Trained in medicine and the arts, he was also keenly interested in anthropology, palaeontology, exploration, zoology, horticulture, public health, education, the advancement and accessibility of culture and the arts, the rights of women, and social justice. His incredible energy facilitated remarkable achievements in every one of these fields, and during his 71 years, he made a multiplicity of lasting contributions to society. He was born at Strathalbyn in 1848, the eldest son of pioneer pastoralist Edward Stirling. He studied first at St Peter’s College in Adelaide, and subsequently gained four degrees from Trinity College, Cambridge: BA with Honours in Natural Science, (1869); MA (1873); BMed (1874); and MD (1880). While living in England he was also admitted as a Member then Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (1872, 1874) and worked as lecturer and surgeon at St George’s Hospital and Belgrave Hospital in London. In 1875, six years after his marriage to South Australian Jane Gilbert, he returned to his homeland where his skills as a highly trained physician were invaluable. He became a consulting surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital, and was also instrumental in the 1883 founding of a Medical School at the seven-year-old University of Adelaide. He was the first lecturer and first professor of Physiology (1884-1900, 1900-19), sat on the University Council (1881-1919), and served as Dean of Medicine (1908-19).  In 1882, he established the house and garden of St Vigeans at Stirling in the Adelaide (the town having been named after his father and the property after the Scottish school his father attended). The fine two-storey house and part of the remarkable ‘botanic’ garden he established there are included in the State Heritage Register. The many rare trees and shrubs included South Australia’s first rhododendrons, one of which was named Mrs EC Stirling, and several new varieties were developed by him and his head gardener Whibley.
Stirling also made a significant contribution to the early development of the South Australian Museum, where he was Director (1884-1913) and honorary Curator of Ethnology (1914-19). He took part in several significant scientific expeditions including: pioneering explorations in Iceland (1870); with Lord Kintore from Darwin to Adelaide (1890-91, where he named and described the marsupial mole Notoryctes Typhlops); directing the 1892 expedition to Lake Callabonna (collecting the bones of Diprotodon Australis); and on the 1894 Horn Expedition to the McDonnell Ranges and Central Australia. During the Australian expeditions, and by establishing a network of contacts throughout the country, he gathered the world’s largest collection of aboriginal artefacts of the time. A great supporter of the rights of women, he was first in Australasia to introduce a bill for women’s suffrage. He became the North Adelaide Member of the House of Assembly in 1884, proposing a motion for women’s suffrage in 1885, and a bill in 1886. Although not passed, the bill presumably prepared the way for the similar bill passed in 1894. He was not only committed to the political rights of women, but also believed in their right to a proper education. He lectured at the Advanced School for Girls and campaigned for women to be admitted to Adelaide University’s School of Medicine. His death in 1919 was a great loss to his family, as well as to the countless organisations which he served so tirelessly (Hospital, University, Museum, Public Library, Art Gallery, Zoo, RSPCA, etc.). He received many honours and awards, particularly valuing that of Fellow of the Royal Society (1893), others being CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael & St George - 1893), the Queen Regent of Holland’s Gold Medal for ‘services to art and science’ (1892), an honorary Doctorate in Science from Trinity College, Cambridge (1910), and Knight Bachelor (1917). Written by Anna Stirling Pope, Goodwood, South Australia
October 2000 References Hale, HM 1956, The First Hundred Years of the South Australian Museum 1856-1956, Records of the SA Museum, Vol XII, 18 June 1956, Adelaide. Last, Peter 1949, ‘The Founder of the Adelaide Medical School’, The AMSS Review, November 1949, pp 7-21. Waite, Edgar R 1929, The Reptiles and Amphibians of SA, Government Printer, Adelaide, pp 102, 125-128
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