Murphy looks back on time in force

Ms Murphy joined the police force in 1949 when female police officers were very rare indeed, and spent what she said were 10 of the best years of her life in the role.

Hailing from a property between Wanaaring and Hungerford, or "back of Bourke", Mrs Murphy found herself in a completely different world as one of a handful of female police officers training in Sydney then undertaking her first deployment at Paddington.

"I had quite a few friends in the police force and it was one of those who talked me into joining," she said, recalling a visit he had made to the property she was managing in western NSW.

"When I had done my training I lectured in schools, did traffic duty in Oxford Street, and then I'd go into Redfern and do some paperwork.

"I was fairly spoilt, coming from Bourke I was a bit of a rarity so anything that was on socially I got an invitation."

Mrs Murphy left her job as a police officer when she got married.

"I was broken-hearted when I had to leave," she said.

"But in those days when you married you had to get out.

"My husband was in Bourke and he had been injured in the war. He was terribly ill and they transferred him to Dubbo."

While the role Mrs Murphy was in differed very much to that of a modern-day police officer, she said she would recommend a career in policing to any young woman who was passionate about the role.

"The camaraderie is wonderful," she said.

"I have been out of it all these years but I still feel like I am part of the family."

Mrs Murphy, who keeps busy as a volunteer at St Vincent de Paul, was recently awarded life membership of the Retired Police Association of NSW.

She said she "would back in a flash if they (police) would have me".

"I have applied to be a volunteer in policing," she said.

"I still think there's a lot I could do. I nursed for years when I was younger and I am a real people person."