12 May 2021 marks 100 years since Ada Evans, female legal
pioneer, was admitted to the NSW Bar after a near 20 year battle to
be admitted into practice. Associate and Vice President of the
Women Lawyers Association of NSW, Justine Anderson, takes a look at
Ada Evans' remarkable career and the key role she played
forging a path for women in the law as the first woman to complete
a law degree in Australia.
Who is Ada Evans?
Ada Evans was born in Wanstead, England in 1872. She was the
youngest daughter of architect Henry Griffiths Evans & his wife
Louisa Cansdell. 1 Her mother came from a family of
lawyers.2
Her family relocated to Sydney, Australia in 1883 where she
first attended Sydney Girls High School and then began her tertiary
education at the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor
of Arts in 1895.3
