Esther Ongley

Esther Ellen Ongley was a New Zealand lawyer. She was one of the first women to graduate in law and work as a lawyer in New Zealand.

Ongley was educated at Waitaki Girls' High School and studied for a bachelor of arts degree at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in 1916.[1] She then moved to the University of Otago and completed a law degree in 1919.[2] Ongley was admitted to the bar in 1921, becoming the eighth woman to be admitted in New Zealand. She spent her career working for a law firm in Wellington.[3]

  1. ^ Hughes, Beryl (1992). Redbrick and Bluestockings: Women at Victoria, 1899–1993. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press. p. 54.
  2. ^ Matthews, Kay (2008). In Their Own Right: Women and Higher Education in New Zealand Before 1945. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press. pp. 73–74.
  3. ^ "Women Legal Pioneers – NZ Law Society". www.lawsociety.org.nz. Retrieved 17 September 2017.