by Professor Ken Campbell
Dorothy Hill was first and foremost an Australian and a Queenslander, though she was also pro-British in her general outlook. She spent her life forwarding the interests of the state, its university and the educational welfare of its students. In particular, she supported the view that Queenslanders should encourage their daughters to attend university, and she attempted to ensure that girls pushed as far forwards into the research areas as was possible.
Of course she was best known for her work on Palaeozoic corals. In this field she became acknowledged around the world. Her international status demonstrated that the university had developed a major field of research and that students would come to Queensland if they were given the opportunity. She became the author of three volumes of the International Treatise on Invertebrates, a feat that won her many plaudits.
Geology was a "natural" for someone so interested in what was going on in such a diverse State, and it was one of her main aims to develop a broad regional picture of its structure. It was not surprising that she took it as one of her main aims after World War II to prepare a 40-mile map of the state using whatever resources were available.
Following on the preparation of these maps, she began to outline a new interpretation of the state's geology, and with A.K. Denmead she began to draw up a pattern of geological development. She used people from government departments, from industry and from academe to write specialist parts of the text, and fitted it all into an outline that she herself developed.
Although she was primarily a palaeontologist, she also spent time in the field doing basic mapping. Her early field work outlined the structure of the Mesozoic sediments and volcanics of the Brisbane Valley. This study was published in the Royal Society of Queensland, and forms the basis of most later work in the area. Her interest in corals also came from some work she did at Mundubbera, where she observed a relatively well exposed Carboniferous fossil reef.
Her life extended well beyond field and laboratory. While still an undergraduate she was interested in athletics, particularly hurdling and hockey. She won a Blue for hockey. In England she learned to fly, and won an A class pilot’s licence. As a Professor she maintained her interest in student sports, and was Patron of student teams.
In her profession she held many important posts. During World War II she was a personal assistant to the officer in charge of the Port of Brisbane. She was a research professor and then a full professor in geology, chairman of the Professorial Board, secretary of the Great Barrier Reef Council, president of Section C of the ANZAAS, and president of the Australian Academy of Science.
She led the Professorial Board in the early 1970s. During a difficult period of administration, she steadfastly adhered to the view that universities were bound to be places of light and learning, rather than a forum for the development of partisan political views. Under no circumstances would she allow research to be diminished or teaching to be undermined. Her work during this period had a major effect on the maintenance of the stature of the university.
Dorothy Hill lived modestly and did not seek publicity. On the other hand she was particularly generous in her financial and other support given to geology and to the university library. She was an outstanding person in Australian academic life. During the last few years she had been seriously ill, but she was strongly supported by her sister and those of her students who lived in her vicinity. Those of us who were touched by her knowledge and her personality will miss her tremendously.
Ken Campbell is emeritus professor of geology at the Australian National University.