Peggy Bartak (1932 -)

Peggy Bartak Circa 1960s

Peggy dates her interest in social work as a career to her school days in England, when a number of her teachers were returned servicemen and women who were advocates of the welfare state and the sharing of assets. In 1952 she pursued this interest by enrolling in the two-year social work course at the London School of Economics. After graduation Peggy migrated to Australia, and began work at the Commonwealth Department of Social Services, later the Department of Social Security. She then moved to the mental health area, taking jobs at Royal Park Psychiatric Centre,

Larundel Psychiatric Hospital and the Children’s Court Clinic.

Around 1961 Peggy moved to a community work job at the Richmond Dispensary and Outpatients Clinic before a move to the Victorian Social Welfare Department’s Family Counselling Section. After returning from England where she had been living for ten years, Peggy took a job with the Melbourne Family Care Organisation, where she worked with families in the local Keysborough area. This was followed by six years as Senior Social Worker at the Austin Hospital before she moved to become Program Development Coordinator for the Shire of Sherbrooke. Peggy retired from full time work as Acting Community Services Manager with the Shire of Sherbrooke in 1993. After her retirement, she undertook a number of locums and projects in different local government settings, and was still working in this way at the time of the interview in October 1996.

Transcript of Interview

Transcript

Audio of Interview

Audio File Part One

Audio File Part Two

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