Jessie Webb
[2] Webb attended Balaclava College, in Melbourne's inner south-eastern suburbs, and passed her matriculation exams in October 1896 at the age of sixteen.
[3] Webb joined Clara Puella Greig who operated an independent coaching college, staffed with other female university graduates.
[3] Her friend Dr Sweet had been appointed to an associate professorship in 1919, the first female to hold such a position at the university, though only after being passed over in the search for a full professor to succeed Baldwin Spencer, despite extensive support and recommendation from within the local and international academic community.
In a speech to the university's Historical Society in 1928, reported in Farrago, Webb spoke sardonically of the systematic exclusion of women from the archaeological profession.
[7] Beginning in 1924, Webb organised regular purchases on behalf of the university of ancient coins and statuary casts, for the purposes of study and to decorate the Arts faculty building.
[3] The book was small, but included substantial notes on the selected texts which, evincing Webb's influence, were peppered with classical and historical references.
[2] During the First World War, Webb campaigned for conscription along with a group of other university staff; she and Harrison Moore produced a pro-conscription pamphlet.
[11] Anderson, a pioneering female mechanic and motor garage owner-operator, died shortly after returning from the six-week trip, after accidentally shooting herself while cleaning some guns borrowed for the journey.
[12] Webb returned to Europe again in 1936 – sailing out on a Norwegian cargo ship[3] – beginning in England, North Africa (where she visited Greek and Roman settlements) and France, then travelling to Athens by train, and onwards to Turkey's Aegean coast and then inland to Cappadocia.
[3] Webb did not neglect her teaching duties during this time, however, composing nine exam papers for her subjects and posting them back to Australia ready to be sat by her students.
[3] During her last stint as acting professor, Webb continued to exercise her administrative duties in running the history department despite being hospitalised with cancer.
"[2] Susan Janson has posited that the strong focus on the publication of research is an aspect of later generations, and that Webb "was trained in an older tradition that stressed the pedagogical imperative for history".
A. Phillips praised her knack for human observation, which he compared to that of Jane Austen, and Keith Hancock rated her among the best three teachers he had at Melbourne.
