Mary Agnes McCarthy (8 March 1903 – 3 April 1978) was an Australian police officer who was one of the first women to serve in the

South Australia Police South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister for ...

. McCarthy was born in

Sevenhill, South Australia The Australian monastic town of Sevenhill is in the Clare Valley of South Australia, approximately 130 km north of Adelaide. The town was founded by members of the Jesuit order in 1850. The name, bestowed by Austrian Jesuit priest Aloysius ...

, the seventh of ten children born to Elizabeth (née Shinnick) and Charles James McCarthy. She was educated at Catholic schools in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, attending St Dominic's Priory College and St Mary's College. She subsequently qualified as a nurse, living in

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, for a period and then returning to Adelaide in 1924. McCarthy joined the South Australia Police in 1929, inspired by

Kate Cocks Kate Cocks (born Fanny Kate Boadicea Cock; 5 May 1875 – 20 August 1954) was a welfare worker and one of two of the state's first female police officers in South Australia. She is best known for her work with unmarried mothers and their babies ...

; she was its twelfth female recruit. As with the other women on the force, she was primarily tasked with handling female prisoners, suspects, and witnesses. She learned ju-jitsu and was issued with a pistol, but only rarely made arrests; she was not required to wear uniform. McCarthy retired from the police in 1960, and subsequently worked as a welfare officer for the

Supreme Court of South Australia The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court of the Australian state of South Australia. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in ...

. She died in Adelaide in 1978, aged 75.McCarthy, Mary Agnes (1903–1978)
''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', 2000. Retrieved 30 November 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Mary 1903 births 1978 deaths Australian police officers Women police officers People from Adelaide