Uniting Church Deaconess celebrates 100th birthday and a life of community service

Rushing through the streets of Adelaide in the middle of the night was all part of a day’s work for Miss Betty (Elizabeth) Leak, who celebrates her 100th birthday on February 11, 2024.

A client of Resthaven Riverland Community Services, and still living in her own home, Betty was a deaconess of the Uniting Church, working in the Women’s Welfare Department at the Kate Cocks Memorial Babies Home at Brighton from 1969 to 1975. An important part of her role was to transport women in labour from the home to the Queen Victoria Hospital.

‘It would so often happen at night,’ Betty says. ‘These babies, ready to be born, and the mothers needing medical help. My role at the home was to take care of the mothers who were there, and then help out with the babies when they were born,’ Betty says. ‘Every need they had I was involved in. I would say I’ve dressed more babies than almost anyone around!”

Her role at the home came after two decades of similar community outreach work, which all began in 1948 when she was accepted to train for the Deaconess Order. The training took place in Kew, Victoria, and on returning to South Australia, Betty began a vocational appointment at Clearview in 1951. She was stationed at Blair Athol for 12 months, where church services, Sunday school and Ladies’ Guild meetings were all held in local homes until the church was built. Her next year was spent at Clearview, during which time her dedication took place at the Pirie Street Uniting Church on 24 February 1953.

Appointments then followed in Broken Hill in 1954 and Port Adelaide in 1956, where Betty was called to help with the establishment of Wesley House. Like Resthaven, Wesley House is a community service associated with the Uniting Church in Australia. Betty was ordained in 1963 and then went to work at Pirie Street, Adelaide in 1964. She then went back to Port Adelaide in 1967 and was made a Senior Deaconess in 1968.

Throughout all these appointments, Betty says her love of arts and crafts would come through as a way to connect with others. She often ran the arts and crafts groups, and would teach people new skills in sewing, crochet, card making, basket weaving, or any other craft they showed an interest in. At Wesley House, the weekly craft sessions culminated in a yearly fete, where the handmade treasures were sold to raise money for the church.

Early life

The eldest of five children (including a brother who died when he was just five days old), Betty’s family moved from Pinnaroo to Malpas in 1926 when she was two years old. Her earliest recollections were of a happy childhood on the farm.

‘It was a 30-mile (around 50km) trip to go to Loxton for shopping and sport,’ Betty says. ‘On one occasion driving home late at night, I remember the car became stuck in the sand, and we had to walk the rest of the way home, with mum and dad carrying the younger children.’

Betty says she sometimes travelled to Adelaide with her dad, never leaving without a shovel because they often became stuck and had to dig sand away from the tyres of the car before continuing their journey.  Moving to Barmera in the 1930s, Betty and her siblings walked the 3 miles (almost 5km) to and from school each day. Betty left school at 13 to care for her mother who was sick. She also helped with the growing and harvesting of vegetables which helped supplement her dad's income – enough that they were able to put money aside to invest in a fruit orchard. It was hard work trekking behind a one-horse, single-furrow plough when preparing the ground for sowing, but in 1941 the family had saved up enough to buy an orchard in Ramco near Waikerie.

Betty continued to work with her family on the orchard, pruning vines and picking fruit until her training in Victoria in 1948. The commercial property is still in the family, with her brother Doug, who is now 91, and his family growing citrus and grapes on it.

Crafting a community

Returning to Waikerie to care for her mother in 1975 after her dad had passed away, Betty quickly found her place within the local church once more. She took on some local preaching roles, occasionally taught the Sunday School, and led the Group Bible Study at Waikerie Community Senior Citizens’ Home’s Warrawee Lodge. She also performed pastoral care for elderly in the local hospital.

Even when she retired, Betty continued to spend two days a week at the hospital daycare centre where she helped with craft work. She did this for around 30 years, and it was only a global pandemic that could slow her down and stop her from attending the craft group and the church.

So far though, there is nothing that can stop her crafting at home! Crochet is still a daily activity for Betty, and she is currently working on a rug that will be donated to the local charity shop. Betty estimates it’s one of thousands of crocheted items she has made – often completing items within about two weeks.

‘The church has really given me a wonderful life,’ Betty says. And it’s clear, there is much that Betty has done for the church and the community. Happy Birthday Betty!