Dame Leonie Kramer AC, DBE was an academic and professor. Born in Melbourne, Kramer studied at Oxford become becoming Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of NSW, in a time when female professors were a rarity. She moved to South Africa after marrying a white South African doctor, but they left the country due to disagreeing with the apartheid regime.

Kramer was a notable scholar of the works of Henry Handel Richardson, Australia's first female novelist. Although her conservative views on literature saw her form enemies in the literary world, Kramer also made a fierce reputation for herself, including editing The Oxford History of Australian Literature. Her contribution to Australian culture was assured when she became the first woman to chair the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the first female chancellor of the University of Sydney, as well as serving as chairman of the conservative magazine 'Quadrant'.

Dame Leonie faced controversy later in life. Her tenure with the ABC ended early due to her disagreements with the Labour government of Bob Hawke. She served on the panel of the Miles Franklin award which presented the prize to Helen Darville's "The Hand That Signed the Paper", a novel later revealed to be a scam when the author - who had presented herself as a Ukrainian-Australian with direct knowledge of family during the Holocaust - was revealed to have no such connection. Allegations were made that many of the judges, including Dame Leonie, had not in fact read the book.

Finally, Kramer's tenure with the University of Sydney also came to an end prematurely when she resigned just hours before a majority of the academics were to vote on a motion to sack her.