Jean Macnamara

Dame Annie Jean Connor ( Macnamara; 1 April 1899 – 13 October 1968), known as Jean Macnamara, was an Australian medical doctor and scientist, best known for her contributions to children's health and welfare. She was honoured as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

Early life and education

Annie Jean Macnamara was born on 1 April 1899 to John and Annie Macnamara in Beechworth, Victoria. Her family moved to Melbourne when she was seven and she attended Spring Road State School. She received a scholarship to study at the Presbyterian Ladies' College and she entered the University of Melbourne at age 17. Other notable Australians who also graduated in her class included Dame Kate Isabel Campbell, Lucy Meredith Bryce, Jean Littlejohn, and Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. During her time at the Children's Hospital, there was a polio outbreak. She and Burnet demonstrated that there was more than one strain of the virus, a fact that would be important in the later development of the Salk vaccine. Between 1925 and 1931 she was consultant and medical officer responsible to the Poliomyelitis Committee of Victoria, and between 1930 and 1931 was an honorary adviser on polio to official authorities in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania.

In the 1930s, she encouraged the Australian government to trial the myxoma virus to combat the Australian rabbit plague. Although trials were initially unsuccessful, she lobbied that they be continued, and when the virus became epizootic in 1951, the mosquito vector spread the virus among wild rabbits, killing millions.

Death and legacy Macnamara died at the age of 69 from cardiovascular disease in 1968

Seven other Australian medical scientists were commemorated in the issue of a set of four Australian stamps released in 1995. She appears on the 45 cent stamp with fellow University of Melbourne graduate, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet.

She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.

In 2018, the Australian Electoral Commission renamed the federal electoral division of Melbourne Ports to Macnamara in her honour.

A suburb of Canberra was named Macnamara, Australian Capital Territory in commemoration of Jean Macnamara. Macnamara Place, in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm, is also named in her honour. Jean Macnamara Street and Jean Macnamara Playground in the Canberra suburb of Macgregor are also named for her.

On 1 April 2020, Google honoured her 121st birthday with a Google Doodle.

Awards and honours 1935: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire