Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Thorley, Virginia
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Thorley Phillips, Virginia
- Phillips, Virginia
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1942-
History
Virginia Gwendolen Thorley, a leading figure in the breastfeeding movement in Australia, was born on 16 August 1942 and grew up in Townsville, Queensland. Her interest in breastfeeding began with the birth of her first baby in 1965. She has been active in the movement since 1966 after qualifying as a breastfeeding counsellor with the Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia (now the Australian Breastfeeding Association) and the La Leche League International (LLL). Recognised as Queensland's first breastfeeding counsellor, she was among the inaugural cohort to certify with the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBCLC) in 1985. Thorley studied at the University of Queensland, earning a Bachelor of Arts (1979), Diploma in Education (1988), Master of Arts (2000), and PhD (2007). Her MA and PhD theses were cultural histories of the history of medicine. In 2008, she became one of the first Fellows of the International Lactation Consultant Association (FILCA). She is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. She has published several books, including Successful breastfeeding (1974) and Feeding your baby and child : a guide for Australian parents (1992), originally published under the title Feeding your baby and young child in Australia.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Revised
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Revised, Kymberley Doyle, 06-Mar-2025.
Revised, AM, 11-Oct-2023.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Internal evidence.
International Lactation Consultant Association. (2013, February 5). We Thank You, Dr. Virginia Thorley!. Lactation Matters: the ILCA blog, accessed online, 06-Mar-2025.
Maintenance notes
Revised with access point, dates of existence, expanded history and source, Kymberley Doyle, 06-Mar-2025.