Dorothy Shineberg

Dorothy Lois Shineberg (February 1927 – 19 August 2004) was an Australian historian who specialised in Melanesian history. In 1950, she was the first Australian woman to win a Fulbright Travelling Scholarship and later taught the first courses in Pacific history at an Australian university.

Early life and education Shineberg was born in Hampton, Victoria in February 1927. After her father's death in 1936 she and her four sisters were brought up by their mother. She won a scholarship to attend the selective Mac.Robertson Girls' High School and later another scholarship for University of Melbourne, from which she graduated in 1946 with a BA (Hons). She also had an MA from Smith College.

Career Following graduation, Shineberg tutored at the University of Melbourne in 1947. She moved to Sydney to take a position as tutor in colonial history with the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) for three years.

In 1950, she was the first Australian woman to win a Fulbright Travelling Scholarship which took her to Smith College in Massachusetts for two years where she completed a Master of Arts. While completing her PhD thesis, Shineberg spent 1964 at the Australian National University (ANU) as research fellow in the Department of Pacific History, Research School of Pacific Studies. Richard Jones and Robert Towns. Her research papers are held in the ANU Archives. Bronwen Douglas concluded her obituary in the Journal of Pacific History, writing "Pacific history has lost one of its most distinguished founders".