Muriel Bath was appointed as a policewoman on 3 February 1947, she was 38 years old. She had a short but eventful career and was based primarily in Brisbane before she resigned 18 months later when she decided to marry. Policewomen were forced to resign from their jobs upon decision to marry until the legislation was changed in 1971.
This interview took place on 8 October 2007 between oral historian Suzanne Mulligan and Muriel Bath. In this excerpt Muriel reminisces about helping a young girl named Betty who fell pregnant out of wedlock.
Transcription
“In those days, a lot of young girls had babies. And that really shook me up. But apparently I had a flair for that because I think I got more than my share of being involved with young girls who had babies.
“What did you do with them?”
“I was just kind to them. That’s all. There was, I remember one in particular. She was only 14 and she lived on a dairy farm up the north coast somewhere. And I was working with the detectives and they took me out to interview her. And she’d had this baby. And we went to the dairy farm. We saw her and her mother and grandmother. Well, grandmother was terrific. She had an enormous safety pin across there I remember. Her hair was all long and matted and whatnot and she was trying to make out that she didn’t know Betty was pregnant and I said to her “But you must have known Betty was pregnant.” I said “Couldn’t you see that she was getting fat?” And she said “Oh yes, but I thought that was because she was drinking so much condensed milk.” Which tickled me, on a dairy farm! Condensed milk! But that was grandma’s story and she stuck to it.
And I saw Betty when she was in hospital, just after she had the baby. Poor downtrodden girl she was. And I said to her, “You know, Betty, you have beautiful hair. If you were to wash and brush it, it would be simply glorious.” And she burst into tears and she said “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Isn’t that terrible, that poor girl.
Well, she went to – they used to send the girls to a shelter at Toowong, I think it was called St Mary’s. Well, from there they disposed of the baby. And some time after, I had actually left the police force, I was married. And I was walking down Adelaide Street one day and this young woman walked toward me and I was taken by her hair. It was fair, and I thought – isn’t that hair beautiful. And she was beautifully dressed. And when she got close to me, she came up and spoke to me. And she said “Oh, Miss Beresford,” and I looked at her and I said “Oh, it’s Betty isn’t it?” and she said “Yes.” “Oh,” I said “Betty you look simply beautiful.” I said “I was struck by your hair but you’re beautifully dressed. Are you working?” And she said “Oh yes I have a job at Shingle Inn.” She had a job at Shingle Inn. And I said “You really look beautiful” and she said “Well I have you to thank for that.” And I felt quite pleased when I walked away. I felt in my own small way I had accomplished something.”… Continue reading