Leading lady Vickie Chapman leads the way for generations of women to come. STORY BY MICHAELA MCGRATH
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
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t 16 years old, Vickie Chapman’s life was “at a crossroad, [where] you either marry the boy next door or you have the chance to go onto an education in Adelaide.” Up until then, the now-Deputy Premier and Attorney-General of South Australia had enjoyed an “idyllic life” on Kangaroo Island, filled with weekend sports, fishing and farm work. Her country upbringing instilled a strong work ethic and a fierce sense of South Australian pride. Ahead of her final year of high school, she crossed Backstairs Passage to complete her secondary studies at the newly merged Pembroke School and later studied law at the University of Adelaide. She credits her pursuit of education to the women on the Island. “We were raised by my father so someone had to tell him that we had a chance to have an education,” she explained. “I think the assumption is when you grow up in the country and you’re female and you’ve got a brother, that farming interests would transfer to the boys and you find something else to do.”