Cocks, Fanny Kate Boadicea (1875 - 1954)

Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 3 June 1935 for her role as 'Principal of the Women's Police' in South Australia. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Cocks began her career as a schoolmistress and sub-matron before entering the State Children's Council (South Australia) and being appointed as the State's first probation officer for juvenile first offenders. In 1915 Cocks became South Australia's first woman police constable. She was concerned with issues such as adolescent sexuality and alcoholism, prostitution, domestic violence and self-defence. Her care for homeless girls led to her involvement in the Methodist Women's Welfare Department as a volunteer superintendent for fifteen years after her retirement in 1935. She made a bequest to the Methodist home for babies, which was later re-named the Kate Cocks Babies Home.

Books

• Abbott, E. S, Everybody's friend : the inspiring career of Kate Cocks, M.B.E., Hassell Press, Adelaide, 1939, 68 pp. [ Details... ]
• Shapley, George William, Miss Kate Cocks, her life and work, South Australian Methodist Historical Society, Adelaide?, 1964, 36 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

• Mune, Marie, 'Cocks, Fanny Kate Boadicea (1875-1954), policewoman and welfare worker', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 8, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 1981. [ Details... ]

See also

• Australian National University, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]
• Healey, John (ed.), S.A.'s greats: the men and women of the North Terrace plaques, Historical Society of South Australia, Adelaide, 2001, 183 pp. [ Details... ]
• Higgs, Patricia, To walk a fair beat : a history of the South Australian women police 1915-1987, Past and Present Women Police Association, Lockleys, S. Aust., 1987, 234 pp. [ 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... ]