Lilian Violet Cooper was born in 1861 to a genteel upper middle class family in Kent, England, who were deeply shocked when she announced as a child that she wanted to be a doctor.

They resisted but she spent her dress allowance to learn Latin, her brother tutored her in mathematics and, finally, when she was 25, her parents relented and she was allowed to study medicine.

Cooper graduated in 1890 and became an assistant to a GP in Essex until a job offer arrived from a Brisbane doctor.

She jumped at the opportunity and, with her lifelong friend Miss Josephine Bedford, migrated — only to find her "employer" was an alcoholic who had probably written for a female assistant in a mood of drunken bravado.

Undeterred, she opened her own practice in George Street, Brisbane, to become Queensland's first female doctor.

Resistance from the colonial medical establishment was fierce — none would give an anaesthetic for her, see any patient referred by her or even talk to her, referring to her as "that woman".

Her manner — described as "brisk" and "mannish" — became more pronounced as she battled the prejudice. But slowly the patients came, the practice began to prosper and the local press began to take notice of her as one of Queensland's "notable women".

She was certainly a personality, doing her rounds by day in a sulky drawn by an old, sway-backed horse and at night on a bicycle over unpaved roads.

With popularity came respectability and wealth. Dr Cooper and Miss Bedford were able to keep a stable of well-bred horses, smart carriages and an antique-filled home.

Cooper's work with the Mater Misericordiae Hospital was typical of her style. The gentle Sisters of Mercy loved her for her tireless work and faultless professionalism but were shocked by her fluent swearing and her unladylike public smoking.

In 1911, she and Miss Bedford left for America where she spent time at the Mayo Clinic before going on to England's Durham University where she obtained her MD.

Back in Brisbane, she resumed her practice until World War I. Then the companions joined the Scottish Women's Hospitals and spent a year in the war-torn Balkans.

Dr Cooper became a familiar, heroic figure working in appalling conditions in knee breeches and rubber boots. The couple were honoured by the King of Serbia.

After the war, they became popular among the Brisbane social set, living in elegant "Old St Mary's" at Kangaroo Point.

Dr Cooper finally surrendered her practice in 1941 after more than 50 years as a pioneer.