Jennifer (JC-S)'s Reviews > Bee Miles: Australia's famous bohemian rebel, and the untold story behind the legend

‘Bee Miles always maintained that she didn’t want to be known, even though she lived most of her life under a public spotlight.’

It seems that Beatrice (Bee) Miles (17 September 1902 – 3 December 1973) was quite a character. I had heard of her as part of a Sydney landscape that had largely disappeared before my first visit in 1970. And, while I had fleetingly wondered about who Bee was and why she lived on the streets, it wasn’t until I picked up this book that I learned more about her.

Ms Ellis has exhaustively researched Bee Miles’s life. Yes, Ms Ellis has included media coverage of Bee and her exploits, but she has looked much further, including notes by treating psychiatrists, discussion with family members, police and court reports, and Bee’s own manuscripts (held in the NSW State Library).

As I read, I wondered how much of Bee’s life was shaped by her father William and the encephalitis lethargica she contracted in 1920 when aged seventeen. Clearly Bee was a nonconformist in many ways, but aspects of her encounters with authority seem (today, at least) to be laughable. Bee defied conventional expectations of female behaviour, which added to her tussles with the law.

It is hard not to admire someone who can quote any passage from Shakespeare, while at the same time flinching at other aspects of her behaviour. Bee became notorious for refusing to pay public transport and taxi fares when travelling about Sydney. Her refusal to pay sometimes led to altercations and arrest.

Bee was an intelligent and restless woman. While she spent much of her time in inner Sydney she also travelled to other Australian towns and cities. Bee spent time in psychiatric institutions, and in gaols. Bee lived at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged for the last nine years of her life.

Yes, Bee Miles was a character. Ms Ellis mentions the B Miles Women’s Foundation ( https://www.bmiles.org.au/behind-our-...) which was opened in Sydney’s eastern suburbs ‘the first dedicated service for homeless women with mental illness’. As Ms Ellis notes ‘It was a collaboration between the Departments of Housing and Communities and Justice (something Bee might have found ironic).’

I wonder what Bee would think of this interest in her life?

‘Fame can be a two-headed beast.’

Jennifer Cameron-Smith