Isabelle Merry

Isabelle Elizabeth Merry (1907–2000) was an Australian Congregational minister and chaplain at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. She was the first woman accepted for theological studies at the Congregational College of Victoria. She was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1937, becoming the first woman to be ordained in the state of Victoria. She became a full-time chaplain at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, and was the first chaplain to be on the staff of a hospital in Australia. In 1976, she was awarded an OBE for her chaplaincy work.

Early life and education Isabelle Elizabeth Merry was born in Scarsdale or Coburg, Victoria, on 20 or 22 February 1907. She served as head prefect in her senior year. After finished her secondary education, she began working at the State Savings Bank.

Pastoral ministry Active in the Congregational Church, Merry volunteered at the church's mission program during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Joan Hore was ordained in New South Wales in 1931, and Kate Hutley (née Keen) was ordained in 1932 in Port Adelaide. Merry was the first woman of any denomination to be ordained to Christian ministry in the state of Victoria. In 1945, Merry left her pastorate, and returned to the University of Melbourne to study social work. She then worked as an almoner in Melbourne. In 1949, she travelled to the United Kingdom, where she again worked as an almoner. She stayed in the United Kingdom until 1950. The hospital did not admit men as patients until 1965. The hospital also had women doctors, nurses and administrators. She was the first chaplain in Australia to be on the staff of a hospital. She retired from ministry in 1977.

Merry died on 16 May 2000 at Glen Iris in Victoria and was cremated.