ANU renames Health and Wellbeing Centre after Pauline Griffin

Pauline Griffin was on a work trip when she encountered a moment of jarring sexism.  

She had travelled to Newcastle to visit an oil-bunkering barge as part of her work as a Commissioner at the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. 

After landing at the airport, she decided to share a taxi with three other people: a colleague, a court reporter and an industry advocate. The latter was male, while the rest of the group were women.

The three women clambered into the back seat, while the man took the front passenger seat. 

The taxi driver turned to him and said, “For such a young fellow, you must be terribly important to travel around like this with three secretaries.” 

Later, when she retold the anecdote, Griffin used it to illustrate the importance of creating fairer, more inclusive workplaces.   

“Until recently, I have always thought that discrimination against women in employment was something that happened to other people,” she said in an opening address for the Equal Opportunity Seminar in 1979.  

“But looking back, I realise that there were features of discrimination in my own job history which in today’s context I would find unacceptable.”

Her brilliant career

Throughout her working life, Griffin promoted and protected the rights of working women.  

After graduating from the University of Sydney in 1947, Griffin moved to South Australia, where she was employed as a social worker. But it was during a stint at the Commonwealth Department of Immigration that she discovered her true passion was working in people-focused roles.  

She spent more than 20 years at Bradmill Industries, working her way up to the role of Group Personnel Manager. While at Bradmill, she used some of her long service leave to take part in His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh’s second Commonwealth Study Conference. 

Of the 300 attendees at the conference, only nine were women.  

“If you have any other ‘womanly’ concerns, please feel free to ask me about them,” wrote the conference secretary in a note to the female delegates that provided advice on hairdressing and where to “wash your hose [stockings] by hand”.   

During her time with the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, Griffin made history as the first woman to sit on the bench of a national wage case in 1978. 

She also served on the National Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation and the National Women’s Consultative Council. 

While Griffin was undoubtedly a trailblazer, the contemporary media coverage of her achievements was not quite as progressive.  

An article on Griffin’s address to an international engineering symposium carried the headline ‘Working wives explode myths: they have logic and work well with men they boss’.

The story quoted Griffin’s take on female tears in the workplace: “If they do cry under pressure is this any worse than a male’s bout of rage?” 

Life at ANU

Griffin’s connection with ANU began in 1978 when she was appointed to the University’s Council. She immersed herself in campus life, leading and serving on multiple committees – including as the Chair of the Public Affairs Committee, which led the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations.  

In 1991, Griffin became the eighth ANU Pro-Chancellor.  

“I know that it is [the University’s] eminence in research and education which gives it its national and international stature,” she said at a Friends of the Library event.  

“But this would not happen without the support, expertise and devotion of the general staff, or without the energy, exploration and drive of both undergraduate and postgraduate students.”  

Even after stepping down from the Council and her role as Pro-Chancellor, Griffin remained involved in ANU life. In 2001, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb wrote to Griffin to share the news that the Chancelry Annex and ANU Union Building were being named in her honour.  

“This is in recognition not only of your significant contributions to the University over many years, but also your particular involvement as Pro-Chancellor, in matters relating to the administration of the University, its student affairs and the work of general staff.” 

At the naming celebration the following year, Griffin said she valued that the chosen building was “home to many general staff members and provides services to students”.

“Thank you all again for this very great honour – you have rewarded me beyond measure for a period of my life I enjoyed and treasure.”  

Rebuilding herstory

The original Pauline Griffin building stood until 2018, when it was demolished to make way for the new Research School of Social Sciences building. 

Now, ANU is celebrating Griffin’s extraordinary contribution to both the University and the wider community through the naming of the Pauline Griffin Health and Wellbeing Centre.  

The commemoration is part of the ANU building renaming initiative, which will see four buildings renamed after distinguished women who have helped to shape the University. Out of 150 named buildings on campus, currently only five bear women’s names. 

The ANU archives house a small collection of Griffin’s personal papers, spanning from the very beginning of her career through to her decades-long affiliation with the University.  

What shines through from the hundreds of typed pages, yellowing newspaper articles, faxes and handwritten notes is how much people have valued Griffin’s compassion, kindness and dedication over the years. 

“You have amazing gifts – your perfect speech, your ability to make others feel so comfortable in your presence and above all loyalty,” reads one of the cards gifted to Griffin in 1998, her final year as Pro-Chancellor. 

“ANU will not be the same without you.”