Tribute to Joan Innes Reid
Joan Innes Reid was an inspirational member of the staff of the School of Social Work and Community Welfare for many years. Her achievements and particular contributions are detailed below.
A commemorative plaque honouring Joan Innes Reid's contribution to Social Work and Politics in Townsville was unveilled by Mayor Tony Mooney at a ceremony on Thursday 28 August 2003.
Below is an address given by Rosamund Thorpe, Professor of Social Work and Community Welfare at James Cook University at this event.
The Contribution made by Joan Innes Reid to the Townsville Region
I joined the Social Work and Community Welfare staff at James Cook University in Townsville in February 1985, and I first met Joan Innes Reid on Palm Sunday of that year.By then Joan had been retired for several years, and although she’d had a serious accident, nonetheless she was still actively involved in a multitude of community activities across a wide range of cultural, environmental, and human services.Thus, within weeks of arriving in Townsville, I ran into Joan at, inter alia, the Wildlife Preservation Society, The Townsville Museum, the Disaster Welfare Committee, and on the Research Ethics committee at the university.
I also began hearing from almost everyone I met about Joan’s prodigious achievements over the 30 years since she had arrived in 1954 to be, at that time, the only social worker north of Brisbane .
As a social work academic, new to the Region where I planned to settle, I was particularly interested to learn all I could about the North Queensland context – both current realities and historical origins and developments.
I got to know Joan well, enjoying her famous hospitality and restful garden, and hearing stories of her life and work.Before very long I came to realise that here was a social worker with very special qualities: of vision; compassion; leadership; energy; dogged determination.In short, a veritable role model for present day social work and community welfare students.
I talked with Joan about recording her approach to social work and, as we talked, we realised that equally important would be to create an historical record of the development of community services in Townsville and North Queensland in the decades since the end of the second world war.
Thus I started to support Joan in writing her memoirs which were published in 1996 as Tropical Odyssey.
So what is notable about Joan, the social worker?
In a nutshell, long before it became widely accepted in social work, Joan epitomised the view that “the personal is political”.Employed as a social worker at Townsville General Hospital , Joan worked with a range of individuals and families to alleviate distress caused by illness, accident, misfortune or disability.In this, Joan’s role was essentially what is known as casework – an important part of social work but, on its own, insufficient- especially in the 1950s context of very few community support services.
Joan’s previous experience of social work in North America had been in community development and this perspective she brought to bear in extending her role beyond the hospital by bringing together people with shared issues and challenges, and working with them to identify needs and develop desirable services.So when, today, we celebrate all that Joan achieved, it’s important also to recognise how she did what she did.
Long before empowerment became a key word in social work discourse, Joan was practising it in all that she undertook: building people’s confidence; developing people’s skills; transferring knowledge and power; and stimulating visions of community well-being.
Perhaps most of all, in “vision” lies Joan’s stature.With qualifications in literature, languages and visual art, as well as social work, Joan had a vision of community well-being which encompassed so much more than human services. Thus Joan’s efforts extended, for example, to education, the performing and visual arts, and early local exercises in Reconciliation.
In relation to education, Joan was involved with the committee which led to the establishment of JCU, she was fundamental to the development of the social work degree, and she was a fervent supporter of the community welfare course.Joan therefore holds a special place in the hearts and minds of those of us in the social work and community welfare professions, in both the community and at the University.
We were honoured to share Joan’s pride when she was the first woman to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by JCU in 1995. And, equally, we are honoured today to see the work of our role model and inspiration commemorated by the City Council.