Marks, Gladys Hope
Born: Brisbane
Died: Scottish Hospital, Paddington, NSW
Family: Father, Benjamin Francis Marks, Tasmanian born merchant; Mother, Jane (Jenny) Matilda Cohen; (Gladys, 5th child of 3 boys and 2 girls)
Married: Never married
Education:
Educated at home by French-speaking governesses, a German teacher and other tutors
1899 French Junior Examination (won medal)
Senior Examination (narrowly missed the Lithgow Scholarship in German Mungo MacCallum wrote to her family urging them to send her to university)
University of Sydney
Won the Garton Scholarships for French and German two years in succession
1905 1st year at university came 1st in English, French and German and won the MacCallum Prize for English essays
1906 to 1907 Honorary Secretary and then President of the first Sydney University Womens Union
Did not take Honours because of ill health
Career:
1908 to 1913 Taught English and French in girls private schools (including Kambala)
1913 Visited England (including Girton College, Cambridge) and Europe
1914 Paris studying phonetics with a private tutor and passed Professor Paul Passy's phonetics examination at the Sorbonne; represented Australia at International Council of Women congress in Rome
1914 When WWI began she was in Belgium
1914 to 1915 Went from Antwerp to London (3 August 1914) and worked there for Belgian refugees and the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association
1915 Returned to Sydney (unwillingly)
1916 Part-time staff, Sydney Teachers College
1917 Part-time staff, University of Sydney
1919 to 1921 Vice-President, Board of the reconstituted Women's Union
1921 Full-time Lecturer, Department of French, University of Sydney; helped establish the Australian Federation of University Women
1921 to 1926 International Secretary, National Council of Women of NSW
1924 Travelled overseas; worked on phonetics at the University of London; represented Australia at International Council of Women congress in Copenhagen
1929 Associate Professor, Department of French, University of Sydney
1929 and 1936 Acting Professor and Head of Department of French, University of Sydney
(First woman to become a full-time lecturer, acting professor and head of department at the University of Sydney)
1931 to 1934 President, Australian Federation of University Women
1934 Appointed Officier dAcademie and awarded the decoration of Les Palmes Academiques by the Government of France for her services to the teaching of French
1938 Travelled overseas; in Brittany when war seemed imminent so went to London; later returned to Paris
1939 Back to London and on to Australia just before war was declared
14 December 1943 Retired
1953 Patroness, Women's Union, University of Sydney
Also, Council member of the local branch of the League of Nations Union, founder and executive member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Sydney, a Vice-President of the Sydney University Dramatic Society and the House Committee of the Sydney Repertory Theatre Society, foundation member of the executive of Musica Viva
Left 10,000 to the Department of French, to which she had already given 8000 for a travelling scholarship; the State branch of the Australian Federation of University Women established the Gladys Marks memorial fund to assist mature women to complete courses at the University.