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Bee Miles: Australia's famous bohemian rebel, and the untold story behind the legend
The untold story of the uncompromising and fearless woman who captivated mid-20th century Australia with her spectacular acts of defiance.
Bee Miles was a truly larger-than-life character. Famous for being outrageous in public, or, as she said, living' recklessly', she shocked and intrigued cities and towns across Australia. But she was no ordinary wanderer.
Born into a wealthy family, Bee moved in Sydney's literary and artistic circles in the 1920s and 1930s before she took up residence on the streets. A consummate performer and a perceptive critic, she caught the public's imagination with her spectacular acts of defiance, emerging majestically from the surf with a knife strapped to each thigh, stopping a country train in its tracks, hitchhiking across remote Australia and drawing large city crowds with her Shakespeare recitations. She was once even voted more famous than the Prime Minister. She was also repeatedly incarcerated in prisons, confined to mental hospitals and treated brutally by a succession of authority figures, starting with her father.
Bee constantly defied conventional expectations of female behaviour. The public found her captivating and fragments of her story have been told again and again in many forms. Until now, no-one has uncovered the real story behind the colourful legend. This first full biography offers a fascinating glimpse into a dark side of Australia's history.
'These pages dance with details of a forgotten Australia, in which the sane were in asylums, the rich were on the left and clever Bee Miles dominated the city of Sydney.' - Alison Bashford, author of An Intimate History of Evolution
'The remarkable tale of an eternal vagabond, Bohemian to her core.' - Lucy Frost, historian and author
'A thrilling ride through the life of one of Australia's most gifted yet misunderstood characters. I adored it!' - Mandy Sayer, award-winning author
'A brilliant rollercoaster of a book.' - Craig Munro, author of Literary Lion Tamers
Bee Miles was a truly larger-than-life character. Famous for being outrageous in public, or, as she said, living' recklessly', she shocked and intrigued cities and towns across Australia. But she was no ordinary wanderer.
Born into a wealthy family, Bee moved in Sydney's literary and artistic circles in the 1920s and 1930s before she took up residence on the streets. A consummate performer and a perceptive critic, she caught the public's imagination with her spectacular acts of defiance, emerging majestically from the surf with a knife strapped to each thigh, stopping a country train in its tracks, hitchhiking across remote Australia and drawing large city crowds with her Shakespeare recitations. She was once even voted more famous than the Prime Minister. She was also repeatedly incarcerated in prisons, confined to mental hospitals and treated brutally by a succession of authority figures, starting with her father.
Bee constantly defied conventional expectations of female behaviour. The public found her captivating and fragments of her story have been told again and again in many forms. Until now, no-one has uncovered the real story behind the colourful legend. This first full biography offers a fascinating glimpse into a dark side of Australia's history.
'These pages dance with details of a forgotten Australia, in which the sane were in asylums, the rich were on the left and clever Bee Miles dominated the city of Sydney.' - Alison Bashford, author of An Intimate History of Evolution
'The remarkable tale of an eternal vagabond, Bohemian to her core.' - Lucy Frost, historian and author
'A thrilling ride through the life of one of Australia's most gifted yet misunderstood characters. I adored it!' - Mandy Sayer, award-winning author
'A brilliant rollercoaster of a book.' - Craig Munro, author of Literary Lion Tamers
416 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 24, 2024
"Like all myths and legends, Bee’s image continues to shift over time. She is still referenced in stories about eccentric figures or social histories of Sydney, though nowadays she is more likely to appear in a blog about dissident women or a cabaret performance. In all her various renderings as a proto hippy, a rebel, a republican, an early feminist, a victim of patriarchy and even an anarchist, her intellectual strengths and her literary aspirations continue to be submerged by her appearance, her conflicts with taxis and her flamboyant behaviour, under the ubiquitous label of eccentric."
This is an excellent biography of Bee Miles, the kind that makes you interested in someone that you wouldn't normally be that interested in. Ellis combines a history of the world that Bee emerges from and lives within with her story, giving this a quality of the story of a particular part of Sydney, from the wealthy mansions of the turn of the century, to the bohemian party world of the post-war inner city, to Depression-era Australian towns, to the world of the city streets in the 1950s and 60s. In her lifetime, Bee crossed multiple class barriers - her relative wealth inoculating her enough to enable her to live a life most are forced out of.
Ellis has strong views about Bee. Ellis places her teenage bout of encephalitis lethargica at the centre of this story, painting a picture of a strong-willed young women thrown into mental illness, whose personality and illness are hence merged into a diagnosis of insanity. While it is hard to tell how different Bee's life would have been with better diagnosis, it is not hard to imagine how improved it would have been with programs to support mentally ill homeless women. So much of what is missing here is respect and dignity in treatment, and this is of a woman whose diction and memory marked her as educated and capable.
But Ellis is careful never to speak for her. We see Bee primarily through others' eyes, or through glimpses of her own writing. She comes across as easier to admire than to like, and wholly resistant to the many attempts to enlist her in others' causes. This is a story of a slightly enigmatic woman who became a legend, and perhaps the most interesting story is in why that is what we needed her to be.
This is an excellent biography of Bee Miles, the kind that makes you interested in someone that you wouldn't normally be that interested in. Ellis combines a history of the world that Bee emerges from and lives within with her story, giving this a quality of the story of a particular part of Sydney, from the wealthy mansions of the turn of the century, to the bohemian party world of the post-war inner city, to Depression-era Australian towns, to the world of the city streets in the 1950s and 60s. In her lifetime, Bee crossed multiple class barriers - her relative wealth inoculating her enough to enable her to live a life most are forced out of.
Ellis has strong views about Bee. Ellis places her teenage bout of encephalitis lethargica at the centre of this story, painting a picture of a strong-willed young women thrown into mental illness, whose personality and illness are hence merged into a diagnosis of insanity. While it is hard to tell how different Bee's life would have been with better diagnosis, it is not hard to imagine how improved it would have been with programs to support mentally ill homeless women. So much of what is missing here is respect and dignity in treatment, and this is of a woman whose diction and memory marked her as educated and capable.
But Ellis is careful never to speak for her. We see Bee primarily through others' eyes, or through glimpses of her own writing. She comes across as easier to admire than to like, and wholly resistant to the many attempts to enlist her in others' causes. This is a story of a slightly enigmatic woman who became a legend, and perhaps the most interesting story is in why that is what we needed her to be.
September 3, 2024
‘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
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
August 29, 2023
Rose Ellis offers readers the fascinating glimpse into Australia’s most fearless woman, Bee Miles, for the first time within this outstanding biography.
Raised into a wealthy family, Bee was known to attend Sydney’s literary and artistic circles during the 1920s and 1930s, before she took up residence on the streets. Although she was mostly known to the public for her spectacular acts of defiance, she lived a hard life dealing with repeated incarcerations, confined to mental hospitals, and treated brutally from authority figures, including her own father.
Regardless of all this negativity in her life, “Bee, on the other hand, who was unafraid to face the facts… knew life was meaningless but still obtained great pleasure from being alive, by living the way she chose.” This was manifested in hopping on/off moving vehicles, swimming with a knife, hitchhiking all over Australia, and creating a nuisance on the streets for bystanders, taxi drivers and police personnel. Although her life was challenging, she always managed to hold her head high and carry on being herself until the very end.
However, after reading this colourful tale of Bee Miles, you are left thinking that she sadly wouldn’t be able to live as fearlessly as she did in today’s world.
Nonetheless, Ellis manages to deliver a well-constructed retelling of Bee’s life, drawing inspiration from Bee’s personal manuscripts, bittersweet testimonies from those who encountered her, local news and legal reports, and other reliable sources. This creates a narrative that flows and places the reader in the perfect mindset of events in Australia both pre- and post-WW2. Especially regarding the populations’ views between femineity and mental illness, and Bee’s endless agenda to change it through her articulate and powerful actions both in words and physical reactions.
This biography also comes with amazing black and white photographs of Bee’s family, transportation from that era, news articles with Bee in the headlines, and Bee herself throughout her life. This adds a nice personal touch to the heaviness of the topics within these pages.
Highly recommended for those that love Australian history, a taste for adventure and drama, and those that love to see people with revolutionary ideas ahead of their time.
Raised into a wealthy family, Bee was known to attend Sydney’s literary and artistic circles during the 1920s and 1930s, before she took up residence on the streets. Although she was mostly known to the public for her spectacular acts of defiance, she lived a hard life dealing with repeated incarcerations, confined to mental hospitals, and treated brutally from authority figures, including her own father.
Regardless of all this negativity in her life, “Bee, on the other hand, who was unafraid to face the facts… knew life was meaningless but still obtained great pleasure from being alive, by living the way she chose.” This was manifested in hopping on/off moving vehicles, swimming with a knife, hitchhiking all over Australia, and creating a nuisance on the streets for bystanders, taxi drivers and police personnel. Although her life was challenging, she always managed to hold her head high and carry on being herself until the very end.
However, after reading this colourful tale of Bee Miles, you are left thinking that she sadly wouldn’t be able to live as fearlessly as she did in today’s world.
Nonetheless, Ellis manages to deliver a well-constructed retelling of Bee’s life, drawing inspiration from Bee’s personal manuscripts, bittersweet testimonies from those who encountered her, local news and legal reports, and other reliable sources. This creates a narrative that flows and places the reader in the perfect mindset of events in Australia both pre- and post-WW2. Especially regarding the populations’ views between femineity and mental illness, and Bee’s endless agenda to change it through her articulate and powerful actions both in words and physical reactions.
This biography also comes with amazing black and white photographs of Bee’s family, transportation from that era, news articles with Bee in the headlines, and Bee herself throughout her life. This adds a nice personal touch to the heaviness of the topics within these pages.
Highly recommended for those that love Australian history, a taste for adventure and drama, and those that love to see people with revolutionary ideas ahead of their time.
January 29, 2024
Absolutely fascinating exploration of a particular woman in Sydney at an extremely tumultuous period of time.
I admit I had never heard of Bee Miles prior to picking up this library title and I also knew very little about the diversity of social attitudes and changing values of the earlier parts of 20th century Sydney and in fact Australia.
What interested me even more was the reality that not one of my Australian born and well educated women encompassing a wide range of ages had ever heard of her either.
It is a fascinating read, not a light read but one that required a couple of borrows from my library and breaks from the subject but I certainly do recommend it to anyone.
Of particular note is the final summation by the author in the last part of the final chapter. This summation is a powerful invitation for each of us to look honestly at ourselves and the ways we choose to live in society and the ways we like to sanitise and update histories tales to fit modern thinking.
I admit I had never heard of Bee Miles prior to picking up this library title and I also knew very little about the diversity of social attitudes and changing values of the earlier parts of 20th century Sydney and in fact Australia.
What interested me even more was the reality that not one of my Australian born and well educated women encompassing a wide range of ages had ever heard of her either.
It is a fascinating read, not a light read but one that required a couple of borrows from my library and breaks from the subject but I certainly do recommend it to anyone.
Of particular note is the final summation by the author in the last part of the final chapter. This summation is a powerful invitation for each of us to look honestly at ourselves and the ways we choose to live in society and the ways we like to sanitise and update histories tales to fit modern thinking.
August 24, 2024
Can I write a review when I’m only 1/3 of the way through a book? If I were Bee Miles I would be turning in my grave to know that after leading such a fascinating life, such a boring fucking book would be written about it.
(I’ve since finished and it didn’t get any better)
(I’ve since finished and it didn’t get any better)
May 7, 2024
Beatrice Miles (17 September 1902–3 December 1973) was an iconic Australian eccentric and bohemian rebel. Born in Ashfield, NSW, to Maria Louisa Miles (née Binnington), and the third of five surviving children, she grew up in the Sydney suburb of St Ives. Her father, William John Miles, was a wealthy public accountant and hot-headed businessman, who had a tempestuous relationship with his daughter. She studied at Abbotsleigh School and enrolled in an arts course, but opted out, citing a lack of Australian subject matter. Miles also enrolled in medicine,but she contracted encephalitis lethargica in her first year.The disease permanently and profoundly changed her personality, although not her intelligence, and she was unable to finish her studies and became an eccentric and notorious identity in and around Sydney.In 1923, tired of his daughter's bohemian behaviour and lifestyle, Miles' father had her committed to hospitals for the insane. After that Miles lived on the street and was known for her outrageous behaviour.She was arrested many times and claimed to have been "falsely convicted 195 times, fairly 100 times". She received a small monthly income from her father's estate.Miles' most notorious escapades involved taxi drivers. She regularly refused to pay fares except for long distance trips.Some drivers refused to pick her up and she would sometimes damage the cab in retaliation.Miles was well-educated, and very widely read. She was a fast and voracious reader throughout her life, even in her declining years, and reputedly read two books every day.She spent a lot of time reading in the State Library of NSW, until being banned in the late 1950s.Miles was also seen regularly standing on street corners with a sign offering to quote Shakespeare verses for between sixpence and three shillings.Miles' writings are in the State Library: Dictionary by a Bitch, I Go on a Wild Goose Chase, I Leave in a Hurry, For We Are Young And Free,Notes on Sydney Monuments and Advance Australia Fair.Bee stayed at the rectory in Christ Church St Laurence until 1964.In her final years,Miles resided at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Randwick.
January 2, 2024
This biography offers a detailed and thoughtful portrait of Bee Miles, generally celebrated as an infamous Sydney eccentric. I first heard about Bee Miles from my mother who, like many others, enjoyed telling stories of her cab rides across the continent and Shakespeare recitations. Indeed, my mother, Dorothy Hewett, included a cameo of Bee Miles in her first novel Bobbin Up and, in later years, had a cameo part as Bee Miles in Jim Sharman’s film, The Night the Prowler. Miles was born into a very wealthy family and, as a girl, contracted encephalitis lethargica. The biographer, Rose Ellis, argue that this disease profoundly affected Miles, resulting in disinhibition and an addiction to movement, acted out through jumping trains, riding on car bumpers, travelling without a fare on toast-rack trams, and commandeering both taxis and private vehicles. Bee’s peripatetic life is traced around Australia as she embarked on her many adventures, enduring cruelty and attracting the kindness of strangers. It was a rough life with Bee, an ardent atheist, often relying on religious institutions for her survival. Bee was herself – full of contradictory ideas (challenging notions of conventional femininity while railing against feminists), lists, unpublished manuscripts, projects. She spent years in and out of asylums, reformatories and prison. With a history of sliding diagnoses, no one ever pinned her down. And, one suspects, that is exactly as Miles herself would have wanted it. The biography is a valuable contribution to understanding many of the ideas that animated Sydney social life. Bee’s embrace of bohemianism and ardent nationalism both echoed and sparred with the beliefs of her father, William Miles, whose loyalties swung from socialism to anti-Semitic fascist movements. In this sense, Ellis offers a portrait of both the times and an individual. It’s a fascinating read.
October 22, 2023
What an amazing story Rose Ellis has told. Bee Miles, or Beatrice as she was christened, lived an amazing life, very full and rich and entirely on her own terms. This cost her dearly, as her father, dismayed by her ebullient nature, had her committed to an asylum several times. Rather than compromise, Bee spent her time in the asylum writing and seeking an early release.
Bee’s background was one of wealth and privilege. She was born in 1902 in Sydney, the fourth of six children. She excelled in piano and schoolwork. Her father influenced her thinking in the early days. He was anti-conscription and anti-Churchill.
These ideas, when presented in essays at school, were rejected and disputed hotly by her teachers. From that time on, it seems that Bee learned to cope with opposition and followed her own path.
This led her to be arrested more than 300 times; she had been in prison all over the country and also been a patient in seven psychiatric hospitals. Mostly an agreeable and happy person, Bee was known and acknowledged by most people. Her chief love was to experience speed and she would hang onto the back of trams and cars to get a buzz.
The story of this amazing lady is set in the early 1900’s and life in Sydney was so different then. The author has outlined political and social norms for that time in such detail that one is transported to Macquarie Street and other places Bee frequented. She chose to be homeless in later life and would quote Shakespeare for a fee. She had her ashes scattered on the family tomb at Rookwood Cemetery.
Beatrice ‘Bee” Miles is one of Australia’s legends.
reviewed by Trish Palmer Bluewolf Reviews.
Bee’s background was one of wealth and privilege. She was born in 1902 in Sydney, the fourth of six children. She excelled in piano and schoolwork. Her father influenced her thinking in the early days. He was anti-conscription and anti-Churchill.
These ideas, when presented in essays at school, were rejected and disputed hotly by her teachers. From that time on, it seems that Bee learned to cope with opposition and followed her own path.
This led her to be arrested more than 300 times; she had been in prison all over the country and also been a patient in seven psychiatric hospitals. Mostly an agreeable and happy person, Bee was known and acknowledged by most people. Her chief love was to experience speed and she would hang onto the back of trams and cars to get a buzz.
The story of this amazing lady is set in the early 1900’s and life in Sydney was so different then. The author has outlined political and social norms for that time in such detail that one is transported to Macquarie Street and other places Bee frequented. She chose to be homeless in later life and would quote Shakespeare for a fee. She had her ashes scattered on the family tomb at Rookwood Cemetery.
Beatrice ‘Bee” Miles is one of Australia’s legends.
reviewed by Trish Palmer Bluewolf Reviews.
November 1, 2024
Every major city has its share of eccentrics.
As someone who was born in Victoria in the mid 20th century, I had not heard of Bee Miles.
Sydney and Melbourne were far apart and in competition for everything - this is still often the case despite the closeness of the two cities - a short plane flight apart.
Bee Miles is an example of a life lived at extremes. Wealth and poverty. Health and illness.
The insight into the court system that constantly tried to crush her spirit and Bee's own fluctuation between extreme beliefs are both signs of the times and Bee's own mental health.
Bee enjoyed her life and lived the way she wished most of the time. She was not afraid to explore the world and made friends as well as enemies wherever she went.
She explored the vastness of Australia in the Depression era and that was a challenge for many men. Bee gave her 'occupation' as student, and she remained a student of life until the end.
The fact that she suffered encephalitis lethargica as a teenager seems to have no bearing on the charges that were brought against her as a result of her aberrant behaviour. This was typical of what we now know to be the result of that illness.
Stories from the court records tell how charges were not brought against those who physically assaulted her (including her own father). Her crimes were often as simple as poking out her tongue at someone who had refused her a lift. (Offensive behaviour).
The first half of the last century was a world for men, despite the growing women's movements.
Everyone should read this biography and be grateful that times have changed although more change is needed.
As someone who was born in Victoria in the mid 20th century, I had not heard of Bee Miles.
Sydney and Melbourne were far apart and in competition for everything - this is still often the case despite the closeness of the two cities - a short plane flight apart.
Bee Miles is an example of a life lived at extremes. Wealth and poverty. Health and illness.
The insight into the court system that constantly tried to crush her spirit and Bee's own fluctuation between extreme beliefs are both signs of the times and Bee's own mental health.
Bee enjoyed her life and lived the way she wished most of the time. She was not afraid to explore the world and made friends as well as enemies wherever she went.
She explored the vastness of Australia in the Depression era and that was a challenge for many men. Bee gave her 'occupation' as student, and she remained a student of life until the end.
The fact that she suffered encephalitis lethargica as a teenager seems to have no bearing on the charges that were brought against her as a result of her aberrant behaviour. This was typical of what we now know to be the result of that illness.
Stories from the court records tell how charges were not brought against those who physically assaulted her (including her own father). Her crimes were often as simple as poking out her tongue at someone who had refused her a lift. (Offensive behaviour).
The first half of the last century was a world for men, despite the growing women's movements.
Everyone should read this biography and be grateful that times have changed although more change is needed.
April 5, 2024
I enjoyed reading about Bee Miles and her very unusual approach to life. At times I found it quite monotonous, but given it was a true story I pushed on and am very glad I did so. Bee was a fascinating woman, raised in wealth, but with a strong headed Father who could not tolerate her differences from the norm. Bee was extremely intelligent and had a deep love of Literacy. As a youngster she caught Encephalitis Lethargica, which later on when more was known about this infection, was thought to have led to lots of her impulsive actions. However, she was always very strong willed and followed her Father’s beliefs which were quite controversial especially as the Second World War came into being. Her Father had her committed to a mental asylum and she was in and out of one over a number of years. She roamed the Bohemian scene of Sydney, hutch hiked up to Darwin and through the eastern States. This was considered against the law for a woman and she was arrested many times as a vagabond, prostitute and as a homeless person. She lived on the streets for most of her life as an adult. She was famous for her taxi, tram, car hijacking’s a ride. She was much loved or much ridiculed and disliked. Despite all this she has become an Australian icon, with many articles written about her. Her own manuscripts have been published and a film made. A in all, a worthwhile read. There are many editing mistakes in the book, which I found annoying.
December 28, 2023
My father first told me about Bee Miles when I was growing up in Sydney in the 1960's. The trick, he said, if you happened to be driving through the city, was to lock your car doors because, if you didn't, Bee Miles would jump in beside you.
This timely warning was all I ever knew. Rose Ellis' biography has filled in the details. 'Bohemian' doesn't really describe the antics Bee Miles was famous for and I tend to agree with the author that, rather than deliver a diagnosis of 'non-psychotic behavioural disorder', she suffered from acquired brain damage following a bout of the mysterious encephalitis lethargica.
The book commences with Bee's ghastly Victorian father (and they seem to pop up like mushrooms in the books I read). It was a man's world but this hegemony so often nurtured cruelty and control. By contrast, I know Christ Church St Lawrence well and was pleased to read about the kindness to Bee of Father Hope.
Interesting also to read about the great atheistic campaign running through the book. As a Christian and also a science graduate, I don't feel that to be brought up entirely without God and then to defend atheism can be seen as good academic technique, as one is not in a position to compare both. Atheism is not rational because one cannot argue the non-existence of something., but I gather that the Rationalist Society did not tell Bee's father this.
This timely warning was all I ever knew. Rose Ellis' biography has filled in the details. 'Bohemian' doesn't really describe the antics Bee Miles was famous for and I tend to agree with the author that, rather than deliver a diagnosis of 'non-psychotic behavioural disorder', she suffered from acquired brain damage following a bout of the mysterious encephalitis lethargica.
The book commences with Bee's ghastly Victorian father (and they seem to pop up like mushrooms in the books I read). It was a man's world but this hegemony so often nurtured cruelty and control. By contrast, I know Christ Church St Lawrence well and was pleased to read about the kindness to Bee of Father Hope.
Interesting also to read about the great atheistic campaign running through the book. As a Christian and also a science graduate, I don't feel that to be brought up entirely without God and then to defend atheism can be seen as good academic technique, as one is not in a position to compare both. Atheism is not rational because one cannot argue the non-existence of something., but I gather that the Rationalist Society did not tell Bee's father this.
September 4, 2023
I've just read this book and what a wonderful evocation it is of both a Sydney "character", a term Rose Ellis prefers to "eccentric", and of a Sydney now virtually disappeared. Ellis’ meticulous research provides not only the surface coverage of Bee in newspapers and eventually on radio, TV and film, but delves deep into the notes from psychiatrists, police and court reports and Bee's own manuscripts, held at the Mitchell Library. The story of her father, William Miles, almost steals the show as he shifts from radical anti-conscription socialist to fully fascist over the course of three decades. The other lead character is that section of Sydney that is bounded by Circular Quay and Central, Darling Harbour and Kings Cross: the city centre where Bee Miles' constant need for movement saw her circulate endlessly. The changing nature of Sydney's centre shines through as Bee wends her way through the five decades from the 20s to the 60s. But the spotlight is mostly on Bee herself, in all her contradictions, witticisms and profundities. A great tale, well told. Five stars.
December 21, 2023
DNF a bit too dry
February 1, 2024
Loved this book about a truly genuine Australian person who lived life to the beat of her own drum.
February 27, 2024
It was an interesting story of privilege, mental health struggles, bias and tenacity. Although I enjoyed it I think it got bogged down with the history.
November 10, 2024
Gavin Souter said it all - one cannot help but be grateful to her for continuing to display that outlaw spirit!
November 1, 2023
Quirky, intelligent and interesting characters litter Australian history, many of whom have faded into the mist of time. However, some of these people leave such a lasting impact that they walk through the mist and onto the page. Bohemian rebel Bee Miles is one such person. Her untold story is captured in Bee Miles by Sydney-based writer, editor and researcher Rose Ellis...
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