Dr Alice Neikirk

Articles by: Dr Alice Neikirk

Long before women police officers came police ‘matrons’: Who were they and what did they do?

4th August 2023

Dr Alice Neikirk, Criminology Lecturer, University of Newcastle

OPINION: This year marks the 125th anniversary of the official recognition of police matrons in Australia, but women had undertaken this work for at least 50 years beforehand; University of Newcastle Criminology Lecturer Dr Alice Neikirk explores one of women’s earliest roles in policing – a role which shared many of the same characteristics as today’s problem-orientated policing model.

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Dr Alice Neikirk
Criminology Lecturer

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Dr Alice Neikirk competed a PhD at the Australian National University and currently teaches criminology at the University of Newcastle. She is a co-founder of the Newcastle Migration Research Network, which brings academics, practitioners, students, and people with lived experiences as refugees together to co-create solutions for complex issues across the migration journey. She has published broadly on the experience of the Bhutanese refugees both in refugee camps and resettled in Australia. Currently, she is working on a research project with lawyers who provide publicly funded legal aid in Australia. In her spare time she enjoys learning about the history of women in relation to the criminal justice system.