BAGE, ANNA FREDERIKA (1883-1970), university teacher, was born on 11 April 1883 at St Kilda, Victoria, daughter of Edward Bage, wholesale chemist, and his wife Mary Charlotte, née Lange. When her father, a junior partner in Felton, Grimwade & Co., died in July 1891 his widow took the three children to England where she enrolled them in the Oxford High School for girls. Returning to Melbourne in 1894, Freda went to Fairlight School. Inspired by her father's amateur scientific interests, she entered Janet Clarke Hall, University of Melbourne, in 1901, and after failing first year graduated B.Sc. in 1905 and M.Sc. with second-class honours in 1907. She then worked as a junior demonstrator in biology, sharing the MacBain Research Scholarship in 1907 and winning a Victorian government research scholarship in 1908. Next year she read two papers to the Royal Society of Victoria, then went to England on a King's College, London, research scholarship; her work under A. Dendy in 1910-11 led to a fellowship of the Linnean Society. Returning to the University of Melbourne as senior demonstrator, she was appointed lecturer in charge of biology at the University of Queensland in 1913, and became first principal of The Women's College within that university on 8 February 1914.
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Anna Bage was a talented scientist who worked her way through the junior ranks of the Department of Biology at the University of Melbourne to became a forerunner of women in public life in Queensland to where she moved in 1914 to take up the position of lecturer in charge of biology in 1913. In 1914 she became principal of the Women's College, a position she held for the next 32 years. She was committed to the cause of encouraging women to become tertiary educated and travelled widely throughout Queensland to promote her college to rural communities. She was a member of many women's interest groups, and played a lead rolein the formation of the Queensland Women Graduates' Association (later the Queensland Association of University Women). She was president of the Australian Federation of University Women in 1928-29. Anna Bage's interests were many and varied. A nature lover, patron of the arts and motoring enthusiast, Bage was also a member of several women's sporting associations.She managed the first hockey team in Australia to travel interstate, from Melbourne to Adelaide in 1908, and was president of the Queensland Women's Hockey Association in 1925-31. She was appointed OBE - Officer of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) - 12 June 1941 for public service.
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