Merle Thornton recognised with honorary doctorate and ‘Merle’s Pledge’ to fight corporate gender inequality

In 1965, Merle Thornton and her friend Rosalie Bogner chained themselves to a bar in protest against the ban on women drinking in public bars.

Fifty-five years later, women from the University of Queensland gathered at the Regatta Hotel — in a corner aptly named “Merle’s Bar” — to celebrate her receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Queensland.

The protest was a defining moment in Queensland’s feminism movement and led to the repeal of section 59A of the Queensland Liquor Act five years later.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Debbie Terry said the honorary doctorate of letters was awarded to Ms Thornton for the…