# Constance Stone > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constance_Stone > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Constance_Stone.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Stone > Source revision: 1286037099 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For the Australian Nurse see; [Constance Adelaide Stone](/source/Constance_Adelaide_Stone) **Emma Constance Stone** (4 December 185629 December 1902) was the first woman to practice medicine in Australia. She played an important role in founding both the [Queen Victoria Hospital](/source/Queen_Victoria_Hospital,_Melbourne), and the [Victorian Medical Women's Society](/source/Victorian_Medical_Women's_Society) in Melbourne. ## Early life and education Stone was born on 4 December 1856 in [Hobart, Tasmania](/source/Hobart) to William and Betsy Stone. The family moved to Melbourne in 1872.[1] In 1882, Stone met Reverend David Egryn Jones, who had emigrated from England. Moved by the poverty his parish, Jones decided to study medicine, and Constance followed suit.[2] She was forced to leave Australia to study medicine since the [University of Melbourne](/source/University_of_Melbourne) would not admit women into the medicine course.[3] She graduated from the [Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania](/source/Woman's_Medical_College_of_Pennsylvania), and was awarded her [MD](/source/Doctor_of_Medicine) from the [University of Trinity College](/source/University_of_Trinity_College), [Toronto](/source/Toronto) in 1888.[4] Jones followed her to Canada to earn his MD.[2] ## Career Stone went on to London where she worked in the [New Hospital for Women](/source/New_Hospital_for_Women) and qualified as a licentiate of the [Worshipful Society of Apothecaries](/source/Worshipful_Society_of_Apothecaries) in 1889. It was her time at the New Hospital which was her inspiration to one day found a hospital that was run 'by women, for women'.[1][5] In 1890, after she returned to Australia, she became the first woman to be registered with the Medical Board of Victoria.[6] Her sister, [Grace 'Clara' Stone](/source/Clara_Stone) followed her into medicine. Clara had been allowed to study in Australia and was one of two women who graduated from the [University of Melbourne](/source/University_of_Melbourne) in 1891. The sisters went into private practice together and both worked at the out-patients' dispensary in La Trobe Street.[1][7] In 1895, the first meeting of the [Victorian Medical Women's Society](/source/Victorian_Medical_Women's_Society) convened in Constance's house, with Clara taking up the presidency. In September 1896 eleven of Melbourne's women, doctors decided to found the [Queen Victoria Hospital](/source/Queen_Victoria_Hospital,_Melbourne) for women. Construction of the hospital was funded by a jubilee shilling fund appeal, it officially opened in July 1899. ## Death and legacy Stone married Reverend David Egryn Jones in 1893.[2] She gave birth to her daughter, Constance Bronwen, in 1899.[2] In 1902, Stone fell ill with tuberculosis and died on 29 December, aged 45.[8] Her husband Rev David Egryn Jones MD, and daughter Bronwen, who also became a doctor in London, survived her. A lane in the Queen Victoria Village in Melbourne (known as QV), is named after Stone.[9] She was posthumously inducted onto the [Victorian Honour Roll of Women](/source/Victorian_Honour_Roll_of_Women) in 2001.[10] ## References 1. Russell, Penny (1990). "Emma Constance Stone (1856–1902)". Vol. 12. Retrieved 9 March 2012. 1. Macdonald, Wendy. ["The Life of Constance Stone – Australia's First Woman Doctor"](https://emhs.org.au/system/files/catalogue/pdf_files/vf0144_01.pdf) 1. ["Miss Emma Constance Stone, L.S.A., London, M.D. And CH.M., Trinity College, Toronto."](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139707402). *Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946)*. 1895-03-16. p. 23. Retrieved 2017-06-04. 1. ["Newsy Notes."](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21808420). *Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939)*. 1903-01-10. p. 94. Retrieved 2017-06-04. 1. ["Death of a Lady Doctor."](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71476573). *Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 – 1907)*. 1903-01-07. p. 38. Retrieved 2017-06-04. 1. Women Tasmania. [Dr (Emma) Constance Stone (1856–1902)](http://www.women.tas.gov.au/significantwomen/search/constance_stone.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20060917083555/http://www.women.tas.gov.au/significantwomen/search/constance_stone.html) 17 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine 1. ["A permanent memorial to the woman who showed that doctoring was not a male preserve."](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23100166). *Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957)*. 1951-12-28. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-06-04. 1. ["Concerning People."](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161795060). *Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 – 1904)*. 1903-02-07. p. 31. Retrieved 2017-06-04. 1. ["Queen Victoria Women's Centre"](https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/queen-victoria-womens-centre/). *Australian Women's Register*. Retrieved 2025-03-11. 1. ["Dr Constance Stone"](https://www.vic.gov.au/dr-constance-stone). *State Government of Victoria*. Retrieved 2025-03-11. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Constance Stone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Stone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Stone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.