​FRIENDS OF BEDFORD PARK Spring Hill, Brisbane  Qld  Australia  4000  

Born in England in 1861, (Mary) Josephine Bedford arrived in Brisbane in 1891 with her longtime friend and companion Dr Lilian Cooper, with whom she shared accommodation during their student days in England. Joesphine helped Lilian establish herself as Queensland's first female doctor while pursuing her own interest in improving the welfare of the state's women and children. Josephine worked tirelessly to improve the lives of impoverished woman and children in Brisbane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           (Mary) Josephine Bedford                                    Dr Lilian Violet Cooper

                                                    Circa 1891                                                          Circa 1891

                                

As the city's population rapidly grew, Josephine noticed that the inner-suburbs, with their unpaved and unsewered streets, were unsafe for children to play. This realisation, along with the help of the local Reverend, led to the creation of the Crèche and Kindergarten Association (C & K) in 1907 and the Playground Association in 1913. By 1911, four centres were operating in Brisbane and a college for kindergarten teachers had been established. On an extended trip overseas, Josephine studied the concept of 'supervised play' and on her returned to Brisbane in 1918 helped open two supervised playgrounds (in Paddington and Spring Hill).  The Bedford Playground in Spring Hill commemorates Josephine's outstanding contribution to Queensland children.Josephine was a committee member of the Queensland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty, first provisional secretary of the National Council of Women in 1906 as well as a member of the Queensland Women's Electoral League. Another of her interests was the Women's Auxiliary of the Hospital for Sick Children. 

 

When Josephine's lifetime companion Qld's first female doctor Dr Lilian Cooper's request to serve in WWI was dismissed by English and Australian military authorities because she was female (“The army do not want women doctors. Dr Cooper would do much better to stay home and knit for the war effort.”), both women signed up with the Scottish Women's Hospital for Foreign Service. By this time both women were aged in their 50's. They served high up in the mountains of Ostrovo, Serbian Macedonia between 1916 and 1917, under the command of Dr. Agnes Bennett. While Dr Cooper worked to stabilise casualties just behind the Serbian front either in field hospital tents, or in abandoned buildings, Josephine who became known as ‘Miss Spare Parts’ was head of the ambulance service ferrying the injured to safety, working close to the battlefield while bullets whistling around their ears.  The female doctors operated all day and into the night by lamplight, performing ten amputations in one two-day period. They carried out two hundred operations in the first few weeks, mostly to remove bullets and shrapnel. It was winter and it was cold and wet, tracks were muddy and slippery. The drivers had icicles clinging to their faces and they did lose one ambulance over the side of the road. Some of the ambulance drivers were killed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          Dr Cooper & Miss Bedford (right)

                                                                circa 1916, Serbia

                                            The Agnes Bennett Collection,

                          Alexander Turnbull Library , New Zealand

 

 

Dr. Bennett remarked in her diaries that she found it very helpful having these two older women on board, although she remarked in a letter home that, ‘they are not always easy to get on with but their work is excellent. Cooper is indiscreet in some public remarks, which does not do amongst these inexperienced girls.’ They moved to Dubrovnik to an advance dressing station where Dr. Cooper, who had been working prodigiously, developed bronchitis and was forced to take a couple of weeks rest. In the dressing station in summer the conditions were appalling--dust, flies, and sudden storms carried all the kitchen equipment away. They paid tribute to some German prisoners who helped construct buildings out of what they could find. In eight months at the dressing station they had one hundred and fifty-two patients admitted, performed one hundred and forty-four operations and dressed hundreds of wounds.  Dr. Cooper operated on any patient presented, including enemy patients. She received a decoration from Russia for this work, and in 1917 the King of Serbia awarded her the 4th Order of St Sava. This decoration is kept at St. Mary's Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.  Miss Bedford was awarded the 5th Order of St. Sava. Both women also served with the French Red Cross.  In 1918 they returned to Brisbane in time to continue their community welfare efforts and fight the Spanish flu epidemic that had returned with the servicemen.

 

Josephine died on the 22nd December, 1955.  On the 22nd March, 1956 a tree was planted in memory of Josephine an honorary life member of the Women's Historical Association in the grounds of Newstead House.  The tree and memorial plaque still stand today.  In 1959 the Brisbane City Council agreed to the suggestion of the Playground and Recreation Association to rename the Spring Hill Playground, the Bedford Playground in memory of Mary Josephine Bedford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                      Dedication Plaque and Memorial Tree, Newstead House