Inspirational ANU Women - Beryl Rawson

Beryl Rawson was a path-breaking professor of Ancient History who built a new picture of family life in the early Roman Empire.

The Beryl Rawson Building is occupied by the  ANU  College  of  Arts  and  Social  Sciences  (CASS),  the  Research  School of  Social  Sciences, the Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre, the Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology and The Graduate Student Centre (CASS).

Professor Emerita Beryl Rawson had a long and distinguished career at ANU including as lecturer in Classics from 1964, Dean of Arts from 1981 and Professor of Classics from 1989 until her retirement in 1998. She was renowned for her path-breaking research in Ancient History. She built a new picture of family life in the early Roman Empire by pioneering the systematic analysis of mass funerary inscriptions. They provided a window on the lives of all classes, well beyond the limits of traditional literary sources. Her sensitive chronicling of family life was pivotal in establishing the new field of studies of the family in the Ancient World. 

Professor Rawson's contributions to ANU include her generous sponsorship of the School of History's annual Allan Martin Lecture by a distinguished scholar. Similarly, she was the benefactor of the Australian Historical Association's (AHA) Allan Martin biennial award to support the work of early-career historians. Professor Rawson was the first woman to serve as President of the AHA.

This week is International Women's Day so we are celebrating the women of ANU who have helped to 'build a better world'.

Do you know an ANU alumna who deserves a building named after her?

We would love to hear about inspirational ANU alumnae who are building a better world.

And while we can't promise that she will have a building named after her, we would love to share her story.