Constance Davey

Constance Davey
OBE
Constance Davey OBE
	Davey in 1924
Born	Constance Muriel Davey; 4 December 1882; Nuriootpa, South Australia
Died	4 December 1963 (aged 81)
Education	University of Adelaide
Occupation	Psychologist

Constance Muriel Davey

OBE (4 December 1882 – 4 December 1963) was an Australian psychologist who worked in the South Australian Department of Education, where she introduced the state's first special education

classes.

Biography

Davey was born in 1882 in

intellectually disabled and delinquent children before returning to Australia.^[1]

Constance Davey's plaque on the Jubilee 150 Walkway in Adelaide

In November 1924 Davey was hired as the first psychologist in the South Australian Department of Education, where she was tasked with examining and organising classes for "backward, retarded and problem" school students.

social workers. She resigned from the Department of Education in 1942, by which point there were 700 children in the opportunity classes she had introduced.^[2]

Davey was a member of the

Women's Non-Party Political Association for 30 years and served as the organisation's president from 1943 to 1947.^[2]

She became a fellow of the

Officer of the Order of the British Empire

(OBE) in 1955.

In June 1951 she led, along with Phyllis Duguid, a deputation from the League of Women Voters to the Playford Government, to allow women jurors in South Australia. Unsuccessful, she led another deputation in 1955 but received the same response.^[4] It wasn't until 1962 that South Australian women were granted the right to sit as jurors, when the deputation led by Roma Mitchell was finally successful.^[5]

In 1956 she published Children and Their Law-makers,^[6] a historical study of South Australian law as it pertained to children, which she had begun in 1945 as a senior research fellow at the University of Adelaide.^[3]

Davey died of thyroid cancer on her 81st birthday in 1963.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b Jones, Helen (2001). "Constance Muriel Davey, OBE". In Healey, John (ed.). S.A.'s Greats: The men and women of the North Terrace plaques. Historical Society of South Australia. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
^
OCLC 70677943
. Retrieved 10 April 2017.

^ ^a ^b "Davey, Constance (1882–1963)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. 2002. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
^ "Women & Politics in South Australia". women-and-politics.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
^ "Australian Biography: Dame Roma Mitchell". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. 1993.
^ Davey, Constance M. (Constance Muriel), 1882-1963 (1956), Children and their law-makers : a social-historical survey of the growth and development from 1836 to 1950 of South Australian laws relating to children / by Constance M. Davey, Printed by the Griffin Press, retrieved 10 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[asa-1] Jones, Helen (2001). "Constance Muriel Davey, OBE". In Healey, John (ed.). S.A.'s Greats: The men and women of the North Terrace plaques. Historical Society of South Australia. Retrieved 10 April 2017.

[adb-2] 
OCLC 70677943
. Retrieved 10 April 2017.

[women-3] "Davey, Constance (1882–1963)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. 2002. Retrieved 10 April 2017.

[4] "Women & Politics in South Australia". women-and-politics.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 10 September 2024.

[5] "Australian Biography: Dame Roma Mitchell". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. 1993.

[6] Davey, Constance M. (Constance Muriel), 1882-1963 (1956), Children and their law-makers : a social-historical survey of the growth and development from 1836 to 1950 of South Australian laws relating to children / by Constance M. Davey, Printed by the Griffin Press, retrieved 10 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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