Edward Charles Stirling

Sir Edward Charles Stirling CMG, MA, MD, DSc, FRS, FRCS (8 September 1848 – 20 March 1919) was an Australian anthropologist and the first professor of physiology at the University of Adelaide.

Stirling was born at "The Lodge" Strathalbyn, South Australia, the eldest son of the Hon. Edward Stirling and his wife Harriett, née Taylor Edward (Senior) was a partner in Elder Stirling and Company before that firm became Elder Smith and Company, was a nominated member of the 1855 Legislative Council, and was an elected member of the 1857 Legislative Council. E. C. Stirling was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. with honours in natural science in 1869, M.A. and M.B. in 1872, and M.D. in 1880. Stirling was admitted to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1874.

Stirling was appointed house surgeon at St George's Hospital, London, and eventually became assistant surgeon and lecturer on physiology and operative surgery. Stirling visited South Australia in 1875, married Jane, eldest daughter of Joseph Gilbert on 27 June 1877 and took his new wife to London for medical treatment. Stirling returned to Adelaide for good in 1881, and in the following year was appointed lecturer in physiology at the University of Adelaide where he helped found the medical school.

In 1884 Stirling was elected to the South Australian Legislative Assembly for North Adelaide and sat for three years. There he proved an innovator and speaker for the rights of women, becoming the first person in Australasia to introduce a bill for women's suffrage. On 22 July 1885, the year after his election, he proposed the following motion for women's suffrage: 'That in the opinion of this House, women… who fulfil 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.' He then expanded on his argument for women's suffrage using the following quote from Plato: 'There is no natural difference between the sexes except in strength and both should equally participate in the Government of the State.' By this time he had four daughters of his own, and he wanted them to grow up in a fairer society. Then in 1886 he introduced a formal bill for women's suffrage into the South Australian parliament. Although this bill was not passed, a few years later South Australia was the first of the Australian colonies to give women the vote.

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