Christian Feminism in Action: Kate Cocks’s Social Welfare Work in South Australia, 1900–1950

Abstract

Utilizing a biographical approach and network analysis, this article examines one South Australian woman’s life of public and Methodist social welfare service in the post‐suffrage era. It is argued that although Kate Cocks (1875–1954) viewed her welfare work as ‘a God‐given mission’, as ‘practical Christian service’, personal contact with the prominent nineteenth‐century social reformer, Catherine Helen Spence, and her links with various women’s organizations were central to Miss Cocks’s career and commitment to feminist causes. Operating across the gender divide yet within the bounds of conventional femininity, Kate’s achievements (being British Commonwealth firsts in several notable respects) were of considerable interest to early twentieth‐century reformists interstate and overseas. At home she was eulogized as ‘Everybody’s Friend’.