07/03/2026
To mark International Women’s Day, here’s a story about the amazing Anna Brennan who features in several Coburg Cemetery tours.
Anna Teresa Brennan (1879 – 1962) was the 13th child born to farmers Michael and Mary Brennan at Emu Creek in central Victoria. She attended the co-educational St Andrew's College, Bendigo, and in 1903 continued to drive daily by buggy to a coaching college some ten miles distant. Anna studied law at the University of Melbourne and became its first woman law graduate in 1909. In 1911 she became the second woman admitted to the Bar in Victoria and went on to appear in her first court case in 1913.
She worked in her brother Frank's law firm for more than 50 years, specialising in matrimonial law.
A social reformer and activist, she belonged to many organisations that championed women. She was a founding member of both the Melbourne Lyceum Club and the Catholic Women’s Social Guild. She also belonged to the National Council of Women and St Joan’s Alliance.
Anna wasn't the only influential member of the Brennan family. Several of her siblings went on to have distinguished careers.
The Anna Brennan Memorial Prize at the University of Melbourne commemorates her work. Active until the end, Anna had a fall on her way to a lecture on nuclear fission. Shortly after she contracted pneumonia and died.
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brennan-anna-teresa-5344
