Miles, Beatrice (Bea) (1902 - 1973)

Bea Miles was notorious in Sydney for her disruptive conduct in public places, and her criticism of political and social authorities. She had no fixed address, and sometimes raised money for food and transport by reciting Shakespeare: alternatively, she simply refused to pay fares. Miles claimed to have been falsely convicted by police 195 times, and fairly convicted a further 100 times. Bea Miles advocated free love and was a fervent nationalist. The 1984 musical, Better Known as Bee, was based on her life.

See also

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]
• Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press, Sydney, 1988, 258 pp. (Also available at http://www.200australianwomen.com/) [ Details... ]