DescriptionThis interview consists of one audio recording and transcript. Sue Anne Bytheway was interviewed on 06 October 2005 by Shirley Kingsford McLeod. Interview SummarySue was born in 1948 and has lived in Cabramatta for 57 years. Sue worked in a pawnbroker shop for ten years before joining the Police Force in 1974.
Sue went to Redfern Academy for six weeks before receiving her first posting to the School Lecturing Branch. She worked in Sydney before being transferred to Wollongong for two years. Following this she was posted to the Women’s Police Office in Sydney (later Blacktown and Parramatta) where she assisted detectives and helped assaulted women and missing children.
After women were fully integrated into the police force, Sue was appointed to a task force involved with investigating cheating on poker machines. She worked in Intelligence, based at Liverpool, Cabramatta and Parramatta. She was also briefly assigned to Wetherill Park.
Sue describes the reaction amongst male officers when women were fully integrated into the Police Force. Some male officers felt unsafe with women around, especially in brawls. But women had other advantages because they were more compassionate.
Sue feels that the modern system of police ranks is at a disadvantage to older, more experienced officers.
The main change Sue witnessed in the police force were uniform changes. Initially women had to wear skirts (unless working a night shift), later they were allowed culottes (divided skirts) and eventually they wore trousers full time. Women also wore stockings and gloves in the earlier days.
The interview discusses the drug problems in Cabramatta.
Smithfield gained its first mounted constable in 1874. They patrolled Smithfield and Fairfield.
After WWII the Smithfield station closed and Fairfield station covered the area and was assigned it's first officer in 1903. the station was moved from Ware Street to Hamilton Street in 1919. in 1948 it was again moved to Smart Street and officially opened in 1953.
Sue Anne Bytheway Oral History. Fairfield City Heritage Collection, accessed 19/03/2026, https://heritagecollection.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/2615
