Women's History Month Heritage Walk Civic Square, March 2022

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this Heritage Walk contains images and names of deceased people.

Kath Bourke (1920-2001)

Community Services Leader

Kath Bourke was involved in the formation and development of Marymead, the establishment of the Respite Care Program and the Carers’ Support Group. She advocated for the removal of the marriage bar for women in the public service, equal pay for women in the public service, ACT Council on the Ageing (COTA), the Abbeyfield Society ACT, the Aged Care Advisory Committee and Goodwin Retirement Villages.

Born and educated in Perth, Western Australia, Kath arrived in Canberra in 1939 as a stenographer in the War Cabinet secretariat.

In 1943 Kath married Harry Bourke and was required to resign from the public service. Incensed at the inequity of the marriage bar, Kath joined the newly formed ACT branch of the National Council of Women and in the 1950s became an emergency carer for children in distress. She returned to the workforce in 1958, remaining at the ANU until her retirement in 1972.

Whether working in the home or in the paid workforce, Kath pursued ideals of social services for women, children and the aged and equality for women. In 1965, she was part of the three-woman deputation to Prime Minister Menzies to request the repeal of the marriage bar. It was removed in 1966.

In December 1990 Kath’s lobbying for concessions for seniors was crowned with the launch of the Seniors Card; she was issued with card number 1. She was chosen as the inaugural Canberra Citizen of the Year in 1989 for the establishment of Marymead, the ACT Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Respite Care Program and the Carers’ Support Group.

Kath was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1979 for her outstanding contribution in the field of community service. In 1989 she was one of the first three Canberrans to receive the Advance Australia Foundation award.

Select Bibliography

Photograph courtesy of ACT Heritage Library - Canberra Times Collection, 008371

Canberra Citizen of the Year

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_{Header photograph: March by Women's Employment Rights Campaign from the ACT Health Authority to the CES building, 2 December 1977.  ACT Heritage Library, Canberra Times Collection, 006515}