Lilian Cooper and Josephine Bedford
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Have you travelled for love?
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Lifelong companions who travelled against the tide
In 1861, two remarkable women who would improve the lives of women and children in Brisbane, were born in England. Lilian Cooper decided at an early age, and against her parents’ wishes, that she wanted to be a doctor. While studying in London, she shared rooms with Josephine Bedford. They became lifelong companions. In 1891 at the age of 30, Dr Cooper accepted a position in Brisbane as a doctor’s assistant. She and Miss Bedford travelled half way around the world together, only to discover that Dr Cooper’s new employer was an alcoholic and impossible to work with.
With gritty determination and bolstered by Josephine’s support, Lilian decided to set up her own private practice in The Mansions on George Street. She encountered fierce opposition from the all-male medical fraternity but was undeterred. Within six months her medical and surgical skills were recognised and her practice began to grow. Dr Cooper made house calls in a horse and sulky by day and a bicycle by night.
When motor cars were first available in 1905, she became one of the first women to drive a car in Brisbane. She did all her own mechanical repairs and was often heard cursing and swearing at an obstinate engine. Lilian Cooper was a founding member of the RACQ. When World War I broke out, both women volunteered with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals, an organisation staffed entirely by women. They served in Serbia for 12 months – Dr Cooper as a surgeon and Miss Bedford as the head of the ambulance service.
After the war, they returned to Brisbane. Dr Cooper continued practicing medicine in her consulting rooms and as an Honorary Medical Officer at the Hospital for Sick Children in Herston and the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in South Brisbane. She retired from medicine in 1941 at the age of 80.
As well as supporting Lilian and running their busy household, Josephine Bedford worked tirelessly to improve the lives of impoverished women and children. She helped to establish the Creche and Kindergarten Association in 1907 and the Playground Association in 1913. The Bedford Playground in Spring Hill is named in her honour. Even at the age of 89, this slightly built but enormously energetic woman was organising an antiques exhibition to raise funds for the Association.
On 18 August 1947, Dr Lilian Cooper died quietly at her home in Kangaroo Point. She left all her assets to Josephine. To commemorate the work of Queensland’s first female medical practitioner and her lifelong companion, Josephine Bedford donated their house to the Sisters of Charity, on the proviso that it be used to build a hospice for the sick and dying. Today Mount Olivet Hospital stands where Lilian Cooper and Josephine Bedford once lived. They are buried together at Toowong Cemetery.
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Last updated: 27th April 2009
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