Freda Bage

Anna Frederika (Freda) Bage OBE (11 April 1883 – 23 October 1970) was an Australian biologist, university professor and principal and women's activist. Bage was born in 1883 and studied at Oxford High School for girls and Fairlight School. In 1907, Bage received her Masters of Science from the University of Melbourne and began an extensive career. Bage worked as a junior demonstrator in Biology and in 1908 won the King's College scholarship and in 1909 travelled to London working under Arthur Dendy which led Bage receiving a fellowship by the Linnean Society in 1910–11. Bage returned to the University of Melbourne where she worked as a senior demonstrator and in 1913 she was offered a job at the University of Queensland where she became a biology lecturer. On 8 February 1914 Bage became the first principal of The Women's College within the University of Queensland, which she held for 32 years. In 1928–29, Bage was president of the Australian Federation of University Women (A.F.U.W.), which names a scholarship in her honour, representing it at several conferences of the International Federation of University Women. In 1941, Bage was appointed Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in 1946 she retired. Freda Bage died in 1970 in Brisbane from cerebral arteriosclerosis.