Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Occupation

Radio broadcaster and Teacher

Alternative Names

• Bid (Nickname)

Summary

Bridget ‘Bid’ O’Sullivan was the first teacher of the School-of-the-Air in Queensland. She delivered her first lesson on 25 January 1960 to 14 boys and girls from remote stations across the state using two-way radio communication. The broadcast was delivered from the Royal Flying Doctor Service residence in the North Queensland town of Cloncurry. Bid retired in 1963 and that same year was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her “…outstanding services and devotion to the children of Queensland in the field of education”.

Since 1999 the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts has offered the Bid O 'Sullivan Teaching Scholarship annually to assist Year 12 students from rural and remote areas who have chosen teaching as their career.

Sources used to compile this entry: Office for Women, Queensland Government, Bid O'Sullivan MBE and the Queensland School-of-the-Air, Our Women Our State: a pictorial history of women's contributions to Queensland, 1859 – 2009, Office for Women, Queensland Government, State of Queensland, Brisbane, 2009, http://www.women.qld.gov.au/q150/1960/index.html.