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Carol Edds (Hamilton, 1968)

In 1973, when Carol Edds (Hamilton, 1968) graduated with honours and a double major in Building and Quantity Surveying, as well as the University Prize for the top Quantity Surveying student, she became the first female graduate with a building degree in Australia. Despite her achievements she struggled to find employment in this male-dominated industry – especially when she was asked about her marital/motherhood status.

In 2020, Carol Edds (Hamilton, 1968) addressed the Western Sydney International Womens Day Breakfast and shared some thoughts and reflections on her life and career. An abridged version of this speech is presented below.

My long held childhood dream was to become a Quantity Surveyor (QS) and work with my Dad in his practice. He had an office at home during my early school years and I loved to go down and pretend to work with him. He shared his love for the profession with me and was a patient teacher.

My time at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School reinforced this dream. Other girls at the School shared dreams of following in their fathers’ footsteps: to Architecture, Medicine and Law… Unusual for schools at the time, at Â鶹ÊÓƵ School we studied Physics and Chemistry, as well as History, Geography, Music, Languages, Maths and English, so we were well set to make our dreams a reality when we entered university.

I enrolled in the Bachelor of Building at the University of NSW (UNSW). It was a four year degree with a choice between two extra subjects in the final year, QS and Building. I ended up enrolling for both options. The first year’s subjects combined the Architecture and Town Planning students, and there were five females out of 100 students in that year. The disciplines split after first year and I became the sole female student in the School of Building.

I loved the course, was outdoing most of the males and had become engaged to an Architecture student who I married whilst still a student.

In 1973 I graduated with 2nd class honours, double majors in Building and QS and the University Prize for the top Quantity Surveying student. I became the first female graduate with a building degree in Australian and I was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph on 11 April 1973.

Although I was a graduate with a top prize in QS and with project management qualifications, every job application was rejected. They were not ready for a female to join their ranks. One QS firm’s director advised that they only employ women as secretaries. Even government departments rejected me with one of my Dad’s former trainees advising me that despite all his support the hierarchy was not willing to take a chance on a married mum.

Professor Emery Balint¹, Head of the School of Building at UNSW, offered me my first job in my field and I became a tutor in the Faculty. There were other female tutors in the Faculty of Architecture so I was not alone although the only other female in the School of Building was the secretary.

During late 1979 whilst in my fifth year as a tutor I was approached by a colleague to join an academic team at Hawkesbury Agricultural College² (now Western Sydney University – WSU) who were developing a new course: the Bachelor of Environment Health. This course was to focus on offering degree-level training for Local Government Health and Building Surveyors and they needed a Building lecturer. Courses I contributed to were the introduction of the Bachelor of Land Economy, Graduate Diploma in Environmental Health and Land Economy and the Master of Applied Science (Fire Safety Design).

A unique opportunity came in 1986 was when the Dean of the Faculty decided that there would be elections for the Heads of School Positions. My project management training in economics, law, management and critical path analysis etc transferred easily to running a School. The Dean had recognised this, asked me to nominate for the position Head of School of Environmental Health and I was elected by my peers.

By 1990 the demand for places in a Building degree was increasing and UNSW and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Building, identified the need for another University to offer the Building degree. I was approached as I held the position of Head of the School of Environmental Health. The Western Sydney University (WSU) hierarchy, although initially cautious, supported the concept, particularity when $300,000 dollars, funded by the Building Services Corporation and presented to the University by the Minister for Housing, supported the establishment of a Building Degree at WSU.

The Centre for Building studies was created and in 1992 we enrolled our first students. Initially it was a part-time Bachelor of Building with full time offered two years later. We also developed a path for mature aged students who had completed their Tafe training and wanted to study further. The Centre transitioned to a Department then a School. When I left, the School of Building offered undergraduate, Graduate Diploma options, coursework Masters and research Master level courses. It was a challenging but rewarding time.

The building industry is notorious for hight and lows, periods of excessive growth followed by oversupply and down turns. During 1996 I was being asked to, in confidence, to prepare budgets with 10 and 30% cuts. This and other internal issues meant that my work was no longer the challenge and enjoyment it had been. Redundancies were offered and as my passion for the School and potential for growth were not shared or supported, I took the redundancy.


For the last 25 years I have worked with my conservation architect husband Graham. We have enjoyed a privileged time working on a wide variety of projects such as Elizabeth Farm, Australia’s oldest remaining residence; historic icons such as St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Windsor; preparing grant applications, Conservation Management Plans, Heritage Impact Statements for private groups and government departments; and have been involved in the care, conservation and/or restoration of many of the State’s heritage items.

Carol Edds. B Build (Hons), M Built Env (Building Conservation).



Footnotes

1. Professor Emeritus Emery Balint (1911–2001) trained in civil engineering in Budapest. After fleeing an increasingly antisemitic Europe, Balint arrived in Australia in 1939. He first worked as a lecturer at the Melbourne Technical College and later took up a position at the University of NSW in the building science programme.
Professor Balint became a leading educator who played a major part in the establishment of building as an academic discipline in its own right. He became Associate Professor of Building within the Faculty of Architecture at the University of NSW in 1962 and was appointed to the first Chair of Building upon its establishment in 1972. On retirement from the University in 1976 he was granted the title of Professor Emeritus.

2. Between 1975 and 1996, the Hawkesbury Agricultural College transitioned to become the Hawkesbury College of Advanced Education and then the University of Western Sydney (now renamed Western Sydney University).