- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: AWE4822
Dugdale, Helen Blanche
(1876 – 1952)
- Born 21 November, 1876, Scotland
- Died 31 December, 1952, Kalgoorlie
- Occupation Inspector for State Children's Department, Matron, Nurse, Policewoman
Details
Helen Ryrie was born in Scotland in 1876. She married George Dugdale in Perth in 1912.
Helen was a Registered Nurse who had worked as a matron of a women’s institution, and been employed as an Inspector for the State Children’s Department prior to her employment with the police force.
A widow when she was appointed In 1917, she along with Laura Ethel Chipper, was a one of the first two Women’s Police constables appointed to work with the Western Australian Police Force.
They began what was primarily welfare work in Perth but also worked in Kalgoorlie. Helen served in Perth and was transferred to Kalgoorlie in 1933. She served there until her retirement on the 10th of April 1939.
Helen died in Kalgoorlie 1952 and is buried in the Kalgoorlie cemetery.
Published resources
-
Resource
- Trove: Dugdale, Helen Blanche (18761121-19521231), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1666018
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Resource Section
- First Women Police - 1917, Skehan, Peter, http://policewahistory.org.au/HTML_Pages/First_women.html
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Site Exhibition
- Karlkurla Gold: A History of the Women of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Criena Fitzgerald and National Foundation for Australian Women, 2012, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/wikb/wikb-home.html
Digital resources
- Title: Police Force, Roe Street
- Type: Image
- Description: Helen Dugdale, far left.
- Date: 3 May, 2023
- Title: Helen-Dugdale-circa-1917.jpg
- Type: Image
- Date: 3 May, 2023