True stories

History and humanities Medical practices
Volume 171 - Issue 11

A riposte for a fencer

Authors:  Ernest S Finckh and Andrew S Finckh

Med J Aust 1999; 171 (11): 679-680.
Published online: 6 December 1999
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True Story

A riposte for a fencer

The residency appointment of Alfred Edmund Finckh to Sydney Hospital in 1905. Was it just a matter of male chauvinism?

Alfred Finckh gained a residency at Sydney Hospital in 1905 in preference to a more academically successful female medical graduate, amid some controversy over the place of female doctors in hospitals. Here, two of his descendants argue his cause: that he was an experienced scientist with qualities that merited his selection for the post.

Alfred Finckh

MJA 1999; 171: 679-680

Authors

  • Ernest S Finckh
  • Andrew S Finckh

References

  1. Grose K. Breaching the bastions. Susannah O'Reilly -- pioneer Australian female doctor. Med J Aust 1998; 169: 648-650.
  2. Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Directors, Sydney Hospital, held on 3 January 1905. Sydney Hospital Archives, pp 414-415.
  3. Finckh AE. The phenomenon of phosphorescence in sea water. Australian Technical Journal April 29 1897; 1: 89-90.
  4. Sollas WJ. Report on the coral reef at Funafuti. Nature 1897; 55: 373-377.
  5. David TWE, Halligan GH, Finckh AE. Report on dredging at Funafuti. In: The atoll of Funafuti: borings into a coral reef and the results (Royal Society of London). Part VII: 151-159. London: Harrison and Sons, 1904.
  6. Sydney Morning Herald June 29 1900.
  7. Finckh AE. Biology of the reef-forming organisms at Funafuti atoll. In: The atoll of Funafuti: borings into a coral reef and the results (Royal Society of London). Part VI: 125-150. London: Harrison and Sons, 1904.
  8. Finckh AE. Treatment of syphilis by Salvarsan. Australasian Medical Gazette. Sydney 1911; 30: 238-240.
  9. Finckh AE. The Wasserman reaction. (A serodiagnosis of syphilis.) Transactions, Australian Medical Congress 1911; 2: 1196-1201.
  10. Finckh AE. Academic fencing. Sydney: Robert Day, 1946.
  11. Finckh AE. Early sudden deaths in the profession [letter]. Med J Aust 1959; 2: 29.