Bryce, Quentin (1942-…), was governor general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She was the first woman to be appointed to the post.
Quentin Alice Louise Strachan was born on Dec. 23, 1942, in Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. She married Michael Bryce, a designer and architect, in 1964. In 1965, she earned Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. That year, Bryce became one of the first women admitted to the Bar Association of Queensland. From 1968 to 1983, she taught law at the University of Queensland.
Bryce became a respected supporter of women’s rights. In 1984, she became the first director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service in the state’s Office of the Status of Women. In 1987, she became Queensland’s director for Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. From 1988 to 1993, Bryce championed women’s rights as federal sex discrimination commissioner. She then became chair and chief executive officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council. In 1997, she became principal and chief executive officer of the Women’s College at the University of Sydney in New South Wales. In 2003, Bryce was appointed governor of Queensland, a position she held until she became governor general in 2008.
In 1988, Bryce was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, an award for service to the country or to humanity. In 2003, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, a higher degree in the order. Also in 2003, she became a dame of grace in the Order of St. John, a nondenominational Christian order devoted to the relief of human suffering. At the end of her term as governor general in 2014, Bryce was made a Dame of the Order of Australia, the highest degree of the order.
