Women working in NSW Gaols

I am conducting research into the lives/careers/family of women who worked in NSW female gaols in the nineteenth and first decades of the 20th century.  My look at other research seems to indicate a focus to date on the female prisoners, especially notorious/controversial women, and very little interest on the women (wardresses/matrons/superintendents/nurses/etc) who were appointed from the 1800s onwards.

My previous research (see for example):

Women’s Business Midwives on the Mid North Coast of NSW:
http://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/4909521/women-through-the-ages/
http://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/4758932/midwives-of-yesteryear/?cs=12
On Nurses and Midwives in Australian History http://www.nswnma.asn.au/book-me-june-2015


 into women who worked as independent midwives, teachers, nurses and in social welfares positions had a definite pattern to them.

 In the early decades the wives of male appointees (in the female factories, refuges, orphanages, industricl/reformatory schools, asylums etc)   would take on the role of overseeing womens' and girls' institutions and early research indicates that this was  followed in the female gaols as they were established.

I am especially interested in the women who were appointed to senior administrative positions in NSW gaols and/when/if they were appointed in their own right rather than under the superintendence of a male governor/gaoler. I am also interested in how these women were trained, their previous positions/experiences, their marital status, and their career/promotions etc....In fact the life trajectories of these women provide a window into the working and home lives of these women revealing interesting and unusual ways in which they did experience the times.

I have written one story of a young woman appointed as a wardress (later senior wardress) at the Women's Reformatory Long Bay. Catherine (Kate) Brock had a long career of more than 40 years and I was able to complete her biography due to records from the Kempsey Museum and from family descendants who shared information and photographs with me.  That story will be published in the August issue of the Macleay River Historical Society Journal.  Keep an eye out for it on their Facebook page at:https://www.facebook.com/kempseymuseum.org/

The research on these women's lives has been very compelling.  In some cases I cannot find as much information as I would like to - this is especially the case with single women but also is sometimes difficult with those who were married and/or widowed.  In all cases these lives are indeed complex and challenging to complete.  In case anyone who reads this has some information, here are  names I am particularly anxious to find out more about:
Alice Kate Chapman
Frances Mary Challis
Alicia Esther Cuffe
Kate Judith Bridgland
Grace Elisabeth Braithwaite
Jemima McLerie
Grace Tinckam

Female prisoner scrubbing at Long Bat 1940s

Grace Elizabeth Braithwaite