The Prentice Scholarship - Una Gailey Prentice (née Bick) (1938)
Una Prentice was the first Bachelor of Laws graduate of the University of Queensland.
Una Gailey Bick was born in 1913, the daughter of Ernest and Jean Bick. Her father was the curator of the Botanic Gardens in Alice Street, Brisbane, with the family living in the Curator’s Cottage in the gardens. Ernest Bick was also responsible for the grounds of the adjacent University of Queensland, which was then based at Garden’s Point.
With her parents’ encouragement – and through their financial sacrifice – Una Bick was educated at St Margaret’s School in Brisbane and then at the University of Queensland. She first graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree (1935). Then in 1936, she became one of the initial cohort of four students of the Law School at the University. Harry Talbot Gibbs joined them the following year. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) in 1938. On 27 September 1938, she became the fourth woman to be admitted to the Queensland Bar.
As one of the first women to seek to practise law in Queensland, she faced significant obstacles. However, as labour shortages grew during the Second World War, she was able to secure a temporary position in the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor’s Office (1942-46). With the benefit of that experience, she then took up a position with the Brisbane law firm of Stephens & Tozer (1946-52). In 1946, she married a fellow graduate of the Law School, Tony Prentice (LLB, 1940). She left legal practice after the birth of their son (Roger Prentice) in 1952. In the following years, she served in voluntary roles in numerous community and professional associations, including the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland and the University of Queensland Alumni Association.
In 1985, the University awarded Una Prentice the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa, in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the State.
Una Prentice died in 1986. Through a bequest in her will, the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland provides an award in her honour to the highest achieving female law graduate in Queensland. In 1988, the University’s Alumni Association funded the establishment of the Una Prentice Memorial Garden on the St Lucia campus.
Prentice Scholarship Recipients
2021 Minh Tran
2020 Kimberly Thompson