Paddy Begg (1938 – 2010)

Paddy Begg circa mid-1990s

Paddy was unsure about a career direction when she left school until a counseling session with a respected Methodist minister introduced her to the idea of social work, and in 1958 she enrolled in the Diploma of Social Studies at The University of Melbourne. In her final year she was awarded a bursary from the Hospitals and Charities Commission, which required her to work in a hospital for at least one year.

Her first position was with the Alfred Hospital in 1961, followed by time at Caulfield Hospital. Then came a move to part-time work with the Anglican Mission to Streets and Lanes, and time at the Brighton Family Centre, Southern Family Life Service, and counseling in a private girls’ school, and back to Southern Family Life as Director around 1972. However the attraction of health social work was strong, and after a locum at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital in 1982, Paddy moved to become Senior Social Worker at The Royal Eye and Ear Hospital, a position she held for three or four years. In 1986 she returned to The Royal Melbourne Hospital as Manager of the Social Work/Interpreter Service, a position she still held at the time of the interview in 1996.

Transcript of Interview

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