Person
Williams, Fannie Eleanor (1884 - 1963)
MBE ARRC
- Born
- 4 July 1884
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia - Died
- June 1963
- Occupation
- Pathologist and Bacteriologist
- Alternative Names
- Williams, Fanny Eleanor (Also known as)
Summary
Eleanor Williams, having trained as a nurse, was widely respected for her research as a bacteriologist and pathologist. Her early career was at the pathology laboratories at the Adelaide and the Adelaide Children's Hospitals, working the Thomas Borthwick. Enlisting in the Australian Army Nursing Service in WWI, she spent some time working with Charles Martin in Cairo and the Lister Institute, London, researching in particular on dysentery: she was considered an expert on this disease. On being demobilised, Williams joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, then one of only three staff members. Despite having no university degree, she managed her own laboratory, working on infectious diseases, hydatid disease, dysentery and syphilis. With Charles Kellaway she studied snake venoms to understand how they drove hemolysis and to identify their antigenic variability. In 1939, with Ian Wood, Williams established Australia's first blood bank, where she developed techniques for blood storage and administering blood products. During her career Williams co-authored over 50 research papers.
Details
War service with AIF at pathology laboratory, 3 Australian General Hospital, Lemnos, 1915, Lister Institute London, 1917, awarded Associate Royal Red Cross (ARRC) 1917, 25 British Stationary Hospital France 1918.
Chronology
- 1904 - 1907
- Education - Trained as a nurse, Adelaide Children's Hospital
- 1907 - 1909
- Career position - Sister in charge, Thomas Elder Laboratory, Adelaide Children's Hospital
- 1909 - 1911
- Career position - Nurse inspector, Unley Board of Health, Adelaide
- 1911 - 1914
- Career position - Attendant, pathology research laboratory, Adelaide Hospital
- 1914 - 1919
- Military service - Served with the Australian Army Nursing Service
- 1917
- Award - Associate, Royal Red Cross (ARRC)
- 1920 - 1957
- Career position - Pathologist and laboratory manager, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
- 1957
- Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Related entries
Colleague
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regularly edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details
Books
- Bryce, Lucy M., An abiding gladness (Melbourne, Victoria: Georgian house Pty Ltd, 1965), xv, illustrations, 322 pp. pages 69, 76, 77, 93, 270. Details
- Burnet, Macfarlane, Sir, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, 1915-1965 (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1971), 193 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Harris, Kirsty, 'Fannie Eleanor Williams: bacteriologist and serologist' in Seizing the initiative: Australian women leaders in politics, workplaces and communities, Francis, Rosemary; Grimshaw, Patricia; and Standish, Ann, eds ([Parkville, Vic.]: eSchoarship Research Centre, 2012), pp. 145-55. https://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/sti/pdfs/10_Harris.pdf. Details
Journal Articles
- Borger, J. G., Nguyen-Robertson, C. V. & Harris, J., 'Trailblazing women immunologists of Australia and New Zealand', Immunology and cell biology, 99 (4) (2021), 338-43, https://doi.org/10.1111/imcb.12454. Details
- Bryce, Lucy M., Kellaway, C. H. and Williams, F. Eleanor, 'A study of hydatid antigen', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 1 (3) (1924), 77-91, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/icb.1924.11. Details
- Kellaway, C. H. and Williams, E., 'The venoms of Oxyuranus maclennani and of Pseudechis scutellatus', Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 6 (3) (1929), 155074, https://doi.org/10.1038/icb.1929.19. Details
- Kellaway, C. H. and Williams, F. Eleanor, 'The serological and blood relationships of some common Australian snakes', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 8 (2) (1931), 123-32, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/icb.1931.10. Details
- Markwell, Kevin and Shine, Richard, 'Science meets the taipan: the discovery and description of an iconic venomous snake', Australian Journal of Zoology, 73 (5) (2025), 1-21, https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO25009. Details
- Martin, C. J. and Williams, F. E., 'Types of dysentery bacilli isolated at No. 3 Australian General Hospital, Cairo. March - August, 1916, with observations on the variability of the mannite fermenting group', Journal of hygiene, 16 (3) (1917), 357-68. Details
Newspaper Articles
- 'Work rewarded by the Queen', The Age (1957). http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19570619&id=mk0RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2ZQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4073,2552760. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q37999528. Details
- 'Williams, Fannie Eleanor (1884-1963)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476047. Details
Resource Sections
- 'Williams, Fanny Eleanor (1890?-1963), Biographical Entry', in Australian Women's Archives Project, National Foundation for Australian Women, 2002, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0117b.htm. Details
See also
- The Melbourne School of Pathology: Phases and Contrasts (Melbourne: Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, 1962), 288 pp. Details
- Fenner, Frank, 'Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 39-77. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710039. Details
- Fenner, Frank ed., History of Microbiology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Microbiology, 1990), 624 pp. p.562. Details
Rosanne Walker and Kirsty Harris
Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 18 August 2026