Dagmar Berne was the first female student of medicine at Sydney University and a pioneering doctor. Confronted by prejudice, she was obliged to travel overseas to qualify. She gained world-class degrees and was feted on her return to Sydney, yet was denied access to employment in general hospitals. She established a private practice, lectured, and worked with women's organisations to progress women's health in Sydney, before tuberculosis forced her to move to Springwood, and then Trundle, where she died suddenly in 1900
