History
As Western Australia's oldest university, UWA has a rich and fascinating history.
- 1911
- The University of Western Australia Act 1911 is passed by Parliament
- 1913
- 63% male
37% female
Total enrolments 184
Teaching begins at the temporary site in Irwin St, Perth
The Student Guild and Extension Studies are established
Three founding faculties: Arts, Science and Engineering - 1916
- The founding bequest of £425,000 ($32 million in today’s money) is given by The Hon. Sir John Winthrop Hackett
Margaret Fairweather is one of the first women to graduate (Bachelor of Arts with honours in English and Economics) - 1919
- A 999-year lease is signed for UWA’s Crawley site (now Perth)
- 1920
- 59% male
41% female
Total enrolments 332 - 1921
- The University acquires the Crawley Park Homestead, which is later renamed Shenton House.
Now a heritage-listed building, it is home to the School of Indigenous Studies - 1931
- The first issue of PROSH, originally called SRUSS-SRUSS, is published
The controversial yet popular student newspaper continues to be produced annually to raise money for charities - 1932
- Engineering students help to dig the Reflection Pond to ensure it’s finished in time for the opening of Winthrop Hall
- 1936
- The University Camp for Kids, recognised as Perth’s oldest registered children’s charity, is initiated
- 1940
- 61% male
39% female
Total enrolments 984 - 1945
- William Somerville’s ‘cathedral of trees’ is opened as an outdoor venue, later to be called Somerville Auditorium
- 1953
- The Perth International Arts Festival is launched, founded by Professor Fred Alexander, then Dean of the Faculty of Arts
- 1957
- Teaching begins in Medicine
Mary Raine’s bequest, the largest ever received by the University to fund medical research, establishes The Raine Foundation - 1960
- 76% male
24% female
Total enrolments 3508 - 1962
- Western Australia’s first computer, the IBM 1620, is delivered to the University
- 1969
- Susan Boyd becomes the first female Guild President and the first female president of a student organisation in Australia
- 1975
- The Berndt Museum of Anthropology is formally established;
the core collection is obtained by Emeritus Professor Ronald and Dr Catherine Berndt
Peacocks are introduced to the campus by a landscape designer - 1980
- 60% male
40% female
Total enrolments 9791 - 1983
- Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke, previous Guild President and UWA graduate,
is elected Prime Minister of Australia (1983-1991), the first from UWA
Professor Helen Milroy graduates and is recognised as the first Indigenous medical graduate in Australia - 1984
- The Lions Club, with UWA, establishes The Lions Eye Institute
- 1987
- An original Irwin St building is moved to the Crawley (now Perth) campus. It is still in use today, adjacent to James Oval
- 1990
- Professor Fay Gale is appointed as UWA’s first female Vice-Chancellor (1990-1997)
The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery opens as the first art museum built at an Australian university
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research is founded by UWA’s Winthrop Professor Fiona Stanley
Graduate Carmen Lawrence becomes Premier of Western Australia (1990 – 1993) and the first woman
to become a premier of a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
- 2000
- 49% male
51% female
Total enrolments 13,503 - 2005
- UWA academic Professor Barry Marshall and Emeritus Professor Robin Warren, a pathologist at Royal Perth Hospital,
are awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori - 2010
- 50.8% male
49.2% female
Total enrolments 22, 159 - 2012
- The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research – a joint venture featuring UWA –
announces the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
The new radio telescope will be capable of seeing the early stages of the formation of galaxies, stars and planets - 2013
- UWA celebrates its centenary
- 2014
- Claire McGlew becomes the first blind person to graduate as a music teacher from
UWA after completing her Bachelor of Music Education - 2015
- A team led by UWA’s Associate Professor Robert McLaughlin and Professor David Sampson
develops the world’s smallest handheld microscope – tiny enough to fit into a needle and used to treat cancer - 2016
- Led by Professor David Blair, UWA scientists help an international project team to detect gravitational waves
for the first time in history, confirming a major prediction of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity
50.4% male
49.6% female
Total enrolments 24,161
The University of Western Australia