Jean Beadle...'Grand Old Woman Of Labor' (1942).
One of the great rewards of researching and writing a blog on the history of the City of Subiaco is that I have come across many inspiring women from the past who have made significant contributions not only to Subiaco but also to the wider community of Western Australia and Australia.
One of those women was Jean Beadle. While she was active in a number of community causes in particular for mothers and children, she played an instrumental role in the work being done at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Subiaco.
She was a member of the first Advisory Board when the hospital was opened in 1916, and was appointed secretary in 1921, a position she held until her death. The matron of the hospital Mrs. Walsh pays special tribute to Jean Beadle in the article copied below from the Westralian Worker following her death. "Through the years we have worked together and became firm friends. I am very glad she was connected with the hospital to the last. The nursing staff and patients alike have lost a true and loyal friend, and the community at large a good woman."
The article and photograph are from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
Westralian Worker, 29 May 1942.
GRAND OLD WOMAN OF LABOR MRS. JEAN BEADLE PASSES
Prime Minister's Tribute
"Here rests a woman, good without pretense, Blessed with plain reason and with sober sense. No conquests she but o'er herself desired, No arts essay'd but not to be admired. Passion and pride were to her soul unknown, Convinced that virtue only is our own; So unaffected, so composed in mind; So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so refined."
Alexander Pope penned those lines, and they give full measure to the character of Mrs. Jean Beadle, whose title will remain in our annals as a truly great Australian woman. I am quite certain that in her death all sections of the community in Western Australia will feel a sense of profound loss. Mrs. Beadle was truly noble; her work was of untold value to the Labor Movement, to the State of Western Australia, and to the nation.
Only today Mr. Victor Johnson recalled to me the conference in Perth in 1917 when the Labor Movement was sorely tried. He had come fresh from the shearing sheds, and heard Mrs. Beadle speak at the conference. Her inspiring words gave him a renewed strength. He never forgot that day.
That was typical of Mrs. Beadle. She never wavered in her ideals; she never laid down the torch; she never failed to look forward to the day of a better life for all.
I am quite sure that men and women throughout the State are today not only all the better for having known Mrs. Beadle, but that many others could wish that they had known her. For to know her was an inspiration. Australia can be proud of Jean Beadle. We can be thankful that here in the Southern Hemisphere we have been able to win for ourselves a way of life in which those like her could live and work. Our Democracy will never die while it provides the opportunity for great men and great women to contribute their share towards Democracy's betterment.
I join with the citizens of Western Australia in the feeling of loss at the passing of Mrs. Beadle, and I also rejoice with them at the monument which her works have provided as a shining beacon for all to follow. Her memory will be blessed.
We are living in times when tragedy is in the air. We expect to hear daily of changes in the world as we knew it. When those whom we have known as threads, so to speak, woven into the fabric of our community life wear away, there is a completeness in the change which brings with it a sense of the brevity of our sojourn here, and brings before us the whole unfathomed mystery of existence.
Some of us have been realising these things, and have had thoughts too deep for words during the past week when we followed with sympathy the last struggle of our dear comrade—Jean Beadle— before she passed into the Great Beyond. It is fitting now that those who knew her should tell of her life and her connection not only with the Movement to which we belong, but also with the Australian people as a whole, in whose welfare she was also so deeply concerned. The following facts will therefore be of interest:
Jean Beadle was born in Clunes, Victoria, on January 1, 1867, and was married to Harry Beadle, an ardent and militant trade unionist on May 19, 1888. They were married only six weeks when Mr. Beadle went out on strike with his fellow-workers for a period of six months. He was afterwards boycotted in Melbourne for his activities in connection with the strike. Mrs. Beadle, of course, stood beside her husband throughout, and later was prominently connected with the maritime strike. She was present on the Yarra Bank on that historic Sunday when Colonel Tom Price gave the notorious order to "Fire low and lay 'em out" to the soldiery assembled a few hundred yards away. She also assisted to organise a women's committee in Victoria to send assistance to the Broken Hill miners in 1892, and to form a union of woman factory workers in that State.
Mrs. Beadle often referred to her own bitter experiences during her late teen years, when she worked in the clothing trade where appalling sweated conditions were the rule. The deep im-pression which the knowledge of the result of these conditions left upon her mind made it impossible for her ever to lose interest in the hours, wages and other conditions surrounding the women who earn their living as seamstresses. Indeed, her experience in the industrial sphere throughout convinced her that the real road to emancipation for the masses lay along the lines of political action backed by energetic and militant trade unionism, and her life was definitely shaped accordingly.
In 1890, she joined what was in reality the fore-runner of the Australian Labor Party. She helped to form the first Labor Women's Organisation in Victoria and was their representative on the Victorian Labor Council, which is the counterpart of the Metropolitan Council in this State.
Mrs. Beadle took a prominent and very active part in the early campaigns in Victoria of the late Dr. Maloney, who kept in touch with her down the years and seldom visited this State without meeting her. When Ben Tillet, the well-known English Labor Leader, visited Australia many years ago, he was a frequent visitor to the home of the Beadles.
Our late comrade came to W.A. in 1901, and was instrumental in forming the first Labor Women's Organisation at Fremantle.
About this time Tom Mann, the famous English Labor Leader, was on a visit to Australia, and he did much to encourage and inspire Mrs. Beadle in her work for the Movement and the people.
After being some time in Fremantle, Mr. and Mrs. Beadle moved on to the Goldfields, and there she again threw herself into the work of organising for the Workers' Movement. She helped in the formation of what was known as the Eastern Goldfields Women's Labor League, and represented them at the Bunbury Labor Conference in 1907. Another noted and militant Laborite in the person of Keir Hardie visited this country in 1907; she enjoyed the pleasure of his company and much inspiration from his sojourn here.
When the late Ramsay and Mrs. MacDonald toured through Australia, Mrs. Beadle held an office which made her the official hostess. She was very struck with the sterling character of Mrs. MacDonald, and corresponded with her for some years afterwards. The defection of Ramsay MacDonald caused her much pain; she could never reconcile his attitude with what she had seen and known of him.
WOMEN JUSTICES' TRIBUTE.
Mrs. Beadle for a Justice of the Peace for twenty-five years, and was a member of the Women Justices' Association. In this connection, the president of that organisation, Mrs. Amelia Macdonald writes of her: "Just a line to send you details of Mrs. Jean Beadle as a J.P. as I remember them. "She, with others, was made a Special Magistrate for the Children's Court in 1915. In 1920 she, with others, was appointed to the Magisterial Bench. In 1924 she and Mrs. Rischbieth were appointed Magistrates for the whole of W.A. She was a foundation member of our Women Justices' Association, and was vice-president—from the start in 1925 or 1926. She was our president for eight years, resigning that position in 1938, but remain-ing vice-president until her death.
"She was a most successful chairman and was loved by all the members, even by those who differed from her rulings. Her death has brought to a close a life of great usefulness."
For sixteen years Mrs. Beadle was a member of the Children's Court Bench until the Court was reconstituted, and she sat on the Bench of the Perth Police Court at sittings of the Court known as the Matrimonial Court.
Our departed comrade attended the first meeting called by the late Lady Strickland at Government House on November 8, 1909, in respect of the agitation for a Women's Maternity Hospital in this State. She was a member of the first Advisory Board when the hospital was opened in 1916, and was appointed hon. secretary of the Board in 1921, a position she held until her death.
HER WORK FOR K.E.M. HOSPITAL.
Of the value of the late Mrs. Beadle's work for the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, the Matron (Mrs. Walsh) pays the following tribute: "This hospital is much poorer by the death of Mrs. Jean Beadle. She worked hard and long for the hospital, and with her able assistance we have seen it grow from the first month with nine admissions in 1916 to 1728 in 1941. She has been a capable and tactful secretary of the Advisory Board practically since its inception, and has been of great assistance to me personally, especially when I was first appointed.
"Through the years we have worked together and became firm friends. I am very glad she was connected with the hospital to the last. The nursing staff and patients alike have lost a true and loyal friend, and the community at large a good woman."
During the war of 1914-18 Mrs. Beadle helped to form the Soldiers' Reception Committee, and was one of its first vice-presidents. She took an active part in the Anti-Conscription Campaign of 1916-17. She was an official visitor to the Women's Section of the Fremantle Prison for many years.
It is perhaps unnecessary to add that Mrs. Jean Beadle has throughout maintained the very closest connection with the Labor women.
In 1912, at the first big Labor Women's Conference held in Perth, she was elected Presiding Officer. When the Labor Women's Central Executive was formed in 1927 she became a vice-president, subsequently occupying the presidential chair for several years. She was senior vice-president at the time of her death.
The epidemic of poverty which swept the country in the depression years found a ready sympathiser and enthusiastic helper in our late comrade. She was the treasurer of the West Perth Relief Committee and gave special attention to mothers and babies. For years she was associated with the Parents' and Citizens' Associations of our State, and education to her was always an absorbing topic.
Our late vice-president has been ailing for a number of years, but her health was not such as to cause anxiety until a week ago, and most of her friends were shocked when she succumbed to pneumonia on Friday morning (May 22) at 10 p.m.
THE FUNERAL.
Jean Beadle was buried, as doubtless she would have wished, on a lovely spring-like day, when the whole countryside was green with vitality, and except for a snowy cloud or two afloat the sky was of the bluest. Gorgeous sunshine threw flecks of light and shade through lightly foliaged trees on to white marble and grass. Everything looked soft and restful in the garden which we call the Karrakatta Cemetery.
A guard of honor from the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, which was composed of eight nurses in full working uniform. Matron Walsh, a charge sister, a representative of the probationers, Mrs. Clemens, Mrs. A. H. Panton, and Dr. Natrass, stood by as the cortege entered the big gates, and afterwards led the funeral procession to the grave.
The Rev. H. H. Fennel officiated at the interment. The pall-bearers were: the Hon. A. A. Coverley, M.L.A., representing the Government; the Lord Mayor of Perth; Mr. E. Needham, M.L.A., General President of the A.L.P.; Mrs. P. J. Trainer, "Westralian Worker"; Mr. W. D. Johnson, M.L.A., Chairman Parliamentary Labor Party; Councillor J. T. Tandy; and Messrs. B. Smith and T. Hewett.
A very large crowd assembled to pay their last respects to one who had spent nearly 40 years of her life in their midst. Practically every welfare organisation in the State was represented, as well as many youth and soldier groups. Perth, Fremantle, Claremont, Nedlands, Subiaco and other parts of the metropolitan area were represented by the biggest crowd of Labor women that has been seen in the Karrakatta Cemetery since the burial of the late May Holman. Mrs. Jackson came with the Fremantle group, while Mesdames Kent, Coverley and Miss Holmes had a good showing from the city. Our women fell in immediately behind the mourning coaches.
The chief mourners were Mrs. E. M. McLeod (daughter); Messrs. W. and H. Beadle (sons), and their families: Messrs. G. and J. Miller (brothers); Mr. W. J. McGuire (brother-in-law); Mr. R. Greenway (nephew). Many male representatives of the rank and file of Labor were present, including the General Secretary, A.L.P.
After the service at the graveside was concluded, the clergyman who officiated paid a high tribute to the steadfast and useful life led by Mrs. Beadle, and then invited Mr. E. Needham, M.L.A., to say a few words.
