KATE BOADECIA COCKS

From its commencement, the colony of South Australia in many instances, led the rest of the continent and the world with reforms for the benefit of the community and in particular, women and children. From the early days of settlement, social justice for the poor, the destitute, married women unable to cope with another mouth to feed and pregnant single women considering abortion as the only form of birth control, was all but non existent. The Destitute Asylum was set up about 1850 in Kintore Ave. with separate sections for men and women. It very soon became a constant source of criticism. There was no division of cases, with the sick, the poor, the insane, the aged, the young, the reformatory girls, the drunkards and the pregnant all lumped in together in appalling and overcrowded conditions.

In 1906, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks, a former school teacher was appointed the first full time Juvenile Court Probation Officer. A few years later, a bold move by the Government was to appoint, on 1st December 1915, Kate Cocks and Annie Ross as South Australia’s (and the then British Empire’s) first policewoman. The move met with general approval. During her time with the S.A. Police force, Kate Cocks was successful in negotiating with the Police Commissioners the establishing of women police officers at many of South Australia’s country and outback towns. The first Honourable Mention awarded to women police went to Kate Cocks in 1923.

Kate Cocks retired from the Police Department in May 1935. The same year she was made a Member of the British Empire for her services to the community and the 40 years she had spent in the State Children’s and Police Departments. After the death of her mother in 1935 she, with the assistance of the Methodist Church, set up the Kate Cocks Babies Home at Brighton for unmarried mothers. The home did not offer confinement facilities, so arrangements were made for the birth at public hospitals. Kate would loan her mothers wedding ring to each girl so that she would not appear to other new mothers to be unmarried.

(Books about Kate’s life as a policewoman are in the Trust’s Library)

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