Skip to main content
About
About the RACP
What is a physician or paediatrician?
Membership
College structure
Board and governance
College Council
Committees
Accreditation
Ethics
Consumer Advisory Group
Special Interest Groups
The ROC
Multi-factor authentication
Our heritage
Get involved
Careers at RACP
Medical positions
MyRACP
Congress 2024
News and Events
News
The President's Message
RACP 2024 Elections
Media releases
Events
Congress 2024
Expressions of Interest
RACP in the media
COVID-19
Quick facts
Policy and Advocacy
Represent your profession
Policy and Advocacy Priorities
Policy and Advocacy Library
CPAC reports
Evolve
Voice to Parliament
Make It The Norm
Division, Faculty and Chapter Priorities
Regional Committee Priorities
RACP Foundation
Donate to Foundation
About us
Research Awards and Career Grants
College and Congress prizes
Division, Faculty and Chapter Awards & Prizes
Regional Awards & Prizes
Indigenous Scholarships & Prizes
International Grants
Student Scholarships & Prizes
Terms and Conditions
Our recipients
Contact us
Toggle mobile menu
Search
Home
Become a Physician
Trainees
Fellows
Overseas specialists
About
About the RACP
What is a physician or paediatrician?
Membership
College structure
Board and governance
College Council
Committees
Accreditation
Ethics
Consumer Advisory Group
Special Interest Groups
The ROC
Multi-factor authentication
Our heritage
College Roll
College timeline
History of Medicine Library
Past office bearers
Get involved
Careers at RACP
Medical positions
MyRACP
News and Events
Expressions of Interest
Policy and Advocacy
RACP Foundation
Wellbeing
Contact us
Pomegranate Health
Close menu
▲
Search
Open section menu
▼
About
About the RACP
What is a physician or paediatrician?
Membership
College structure
Board and governance
College Council
Committees
Accreditation
Ethics
Consumer Advisory Group
Special Interest Groups
The ROC
Multi-factor authentication
Our heritage
College Roll
College timeline
History of Medicine Library
Past office bearers
Get involved
Careers at RACP
Medical positions
MyRACP
Open section menu
▼
College Roll Bio
Durie, Ethel Beatrix
Share
Qualifications
BSc Syd (1919) Mb ChM Syd (1923) MRACP (1940) FRACP (1953) FRCPA (1956) MACD (1967)
Born
12/12/1898
Died
29/06/1983
Trixie Durie, as she was generally known, was born in Sydney on 12 December 1898, th eldest of a family of five. She had a brilliant school career at Fort Street Girls High School where she came under the influence of Fanny Cohen who inspired so many girls to professional careers. She obtained a maximum pass in the senior examination with first class honours in all subjects, the John West and Grahame Prize medal for first in general proficiency in the state and five medals for first in individual subjects and a scholarship to the Women's College. She graduated from Sydney University in science with first class honours in mathematics and completed her medical course in 1923. She did her clinical training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, The Children's Hospital, Newcastle Hospital and later trained in pathology in various hospitals in England, including University College Hospital King Edward VIII Hospital, Windsor. She was medical officer with the Early School Medical Service of the New South Wales Department of Education from 1925 to 1928. She held pathology and biochemistry appointments at Prince Alfred Hospital and Crown Street Women's Hospital and went to Royal North Shore in 1940 as staff pathologist. There she made a tremendous contribution to the Hospital's ability to function during the war years. In 1946 she was appointed bacteriologist and was the first full time staff specialist and department head until her retirement in 1963. She obtained her MRACP in 1940 and FRACP in 1953. My professional association with Trixie Durie commenced in 1950. I had returned from Britain to appointments to The Royal Society for the Care of Mothers and Babies and to the maternity department of Royal North Shore Hospital as honorary assistant paediatrician and lecturer in diseases of the newborn with a research grant to study breast feeding. The high incidence of mastitis and staphylococcal infection in the babies soon came to my attention. Trixie had had experience of an outbreak of streptococcal infection in Crown Street Hospital when she was working there, and was convinced of the seriousness of the situation. She agreed to provide the bacteriology required without any additional assistance or funds. She helped me plan the studies and was a constant source of advice and encouragement. Her tact and diplomacy obtained the co-operation of Dr Rowntree at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for phage typing. She made practical suggestions and restrained my youthful enthusiasm and intolerance of obstruction, so making the whole project more possible. Over the next ten years we collaborated over several papers on mastitis and infection of the new born. One result of these was that the NHMRC set up a committee on staphylococcal infections in maternity hospitals resulting in Special Report No 7 that led to many changes and the establishment of cross infection committees to observe and supervise routine procedures to reduce infection in hospitals. Trixie ran an efficient bacteriology department, always on the alert to new discoveries and to modernise procedures. She set up the mycology department at Royal North Shore Hospital and this became her main research interest. Trixie was a small woman, very active, quite unassuming, always cheerful and ready to listen to colleagues problems. I am sure few realised her academic brilliance, but her keen analytic brain helped solve my many problems as it did for others. She was liked and respected by her colleagues and with her sense of humour I think she also made the path easier for women like myself, coming somewhat unwelcomely into that man's world. She dressed smartly but conservatively, never lost her cool, but was quite definite in her opinions, a model for women in our profession generally. In her youth she enjoyed sailing and skiing. Later she found time for travel, symphony concerts, the Medical Women’s International Association and the Standing Committee of Convocation, University of Sydney. At weekends she relaxed at her cottage at Newport where she loved to entertain her friends and relations and their children in whom she took a lively interest. She was a friend of Dr Grace Cuthbert Brown. I greatly valued the friendship of both and the example they set of ethical and scientific commitment and community concern.
Author
C ISBISTER
References
Note: Extra information supplied by Professor DS Nelson (
qv
) has been included in Dr. Isbister’s obituary;
Med J Aust
, 1984,
140
, 373.
Last Updated
May 30, 2018, 17:35 PM
Close overlay