While the Geology Department at the university was heavily influenced by the petrological studies of Prof. Ernest W. Skeats, Ripper was attracted to the palaeontological programs of Frederick A.
[1] She attended geology field trips in company with a number of female students of the department, as well as Edwin Sherbon Hills.
[1][3] Ripper would win an Orient free passage[4] and take with her materials she had collected around Victoria, as well as stromatoporoids from Lilydale and Buchan.
[1] Hill and Ripper would work in close quarters at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Newnham College[5] and out in the field, collecting specimens in Wales.
After returning to Australia following the completion of her PhD, Ripper went back to England to marry fellow geologist, Stanley C.A.
[9] Ripper joined the Geological Society of London, but was unable to find work, and with the advent of World War II, and a family, her options for pursuing research[10] and employment were low.