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100 Years of Women In...

100 Years of Women In Policing

Release date: Thu 14 September 2017

Last updated: Mon 25 September 2017

Victoria Police is celebrating 100 Years of Women in Policing

On 28 July 1917, Victoria Police employed our first women as 'agents' - Madge Connor and Elizabeth Beers.

This year 2017 commemorates this historical milestone.

100%20Years%20Collage

Agents of Change: 100 Years of Women in Policing

Victoria Police Museum is presenting a major exhibition to celebrate of 100 years of women in Victoria Police. Using historical and contemporary stories, the exhibition will be a comprehensive look into how women have contributed to policing in Victoria over the past 100 years. The exhibition will explore major breakthroughs and land-mark events within Victoria Police, through the context of social changes and mile-stones in the wider community.

The overall aim of the exhibition is a celebration of women's contributions to policing in Victoria over a century. It aims to acknowledge the historical struggles and discrimination women faced, in order to highlight the equality and diversity of Victoria Police today.

The exhibition is open to the public from 31 July, 2017. The Victoria Police Musuem is located at 637 Flinders Street, Melbourne, 3008 (enter via World Trade Centre in Siddeley Street) and open from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

For more information visit the Victoria Police Musuem website.

100%20Year%20Merchandise

To mark 100 years of Women in Policing, the Victoria Police Museum has released a range of limited edition merchandise.

Celebrate the centenary with our new Agents of Change mug, or if that's not your cup of tea pick up some of our special release magnets, featuring iconic images of some of Victoria Police's early police women.

If you are keen to learn more about the history of women in Victoria Police, pop down and pick up a copy of Colleen Woolley's book Arresting Women, or the Agents of Change exhibition booklet.

The Museum gift shop is open from 10 - 4pm, Monday to Friday and is located on the Mezzanine Level of the World Trade Centre.

For more information phone 9247 6354 or policemuseum-mgr@police.vic.gov.au via email.

	Key historical figures
	Major moments

Timeline of major events

1917	Madge Connor and Elizabeth Beers- appointed as agents	1977	Sergeant Fran Corrie is the first to qualify as an air observer with the Air Wing. Anne Cursio becomes first women to be awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal
1924	Number of police women increases to four. Police women are sworn in with same pay and rights as policemen (although did not necessarily receive equal pay for equal work, and were not paid for overtime)	1978	Equal Opportunity Act comes into effect (police women begin to transfer to general duties policing)
1929	The number of police women doubles to eight	1980	Police women are able to apply for handcuffs and batons
1942	Women's Auxillary Force appoints women as drivers, clerks and receptionist during WWII First all-female squad: the largest single increase in PW numbers so far	1981	Pants introduced into police women's uniform
1943	Katherine Mackay promoted to Senior Constable (most senior woman to date)	1982	Police women's division abolished. Joan Notting first woman appointed officer in charge of police station
1947	A uniform for police women introduced (23 years after first appointment)	1984	Margaret or Catherine McVeigh becomes first police woman in Victoria promoted to rank of Superintendent
1948	Elva Carr proves women capable of more than welfare work when she organises the first female Street patrol	1986	Angela Rose Taylor first police woman murdered on duty ( Russell St Bombings) First female Aboriginal Police member- Tarina Martyn
1950	Grace Brebner appointed to CIB	1988	First group of female PSO's appointed
1951	Grace Brebner becomes first female Detective in Australia	1989	Bernice Masterson is first female Assistant Commissioner in Victoria Police Heather Morris becomes the first police woman to become an operational solo motor cycle rider
1956	Kath Mackay first woman to become Sergeant	1993	Jenny Wiltshire becomes the first police woman permanently placed in the homicide squad (Jenny Wiltshire)
1961	5 Police women are the first females to attend Vehicle Safety Testing School	1994	The Past and Present Women Police Association formed
1960	Women take the first three places (dux, second and third) amongst graduate recruits	1999	First Vietnamese born woman to join Victoria Police. (Penelope Palmer) Studied at Monash, including a paper on relationship between Vietnamese community and VP. Rebecca Caskey is the first woman to join the Search and Rescue Squad
1966	Carol Baker first woman to undergo police driver training course	2000	Jocelyn O'Brien and Kathryn Joyce first women in Dog Squad. Rebecca Caskey is first female SAR
1971	Grace Brebner becomes the first police woman in Vic to reach Inspector rank	2001	Nixon first female Chief Commissioner of Police in Australia. Senior Sergeant Robyne McGowan is appointed officer in charge of Moreland Traffic Management Unit, ahead of 16 other candidates. She is the first female to head a TMUI. Detective Sergeant Deb Bennet becomes Australia's only qualified criminal profiler employed to work in behavioural analysis
1972	(Dec) Requirement for female police recruits to be single is abolished. Marcia R Caulfield becomes the first married woman to graduate. (Later went on to become Australia's first fully trained hostage negotiator- trained in the US)	2002	Natalie Cale first woman appointed to a one-man (now one person) police station.
1973	Grace Brebner first police woman in Vic to receive Queens Police Medal	2003	Constable Ezo Girgin is Victorias first police woman who is Muslim
1974	Sharon Armfield and Marilyn Cooke become the first women in Mounted branch	2005	Constable Melissa Jardine wins an award for outstanding achievement in completing a 20 week Vietnamese language course as part of the Victoria Police Multicultural Commission. Jennifer Locke wins International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators Police Officer of the Year award for the Australian southern region, for her work on Operation Tesla.
1975	Bernice Masterson becomes the first woman to dux Detective Training school