Joan McClintock

Joan Hartley McClintock (4 February 1922 – 9 September 1996) was an Australian social worker and welfare activist who worked for the Australian Women's Army Service during World War II and then had a long career at the Australian Council of Social Service between 1968 and 1983.

Early life McClintock was born in Mosman, a suburb of Sydney, and was the youngest child of Thomas Victor Roberts and his wife Vera Marguerite (née Perdriau). McClintock's commitment to social justice was cemented at a young age when her father, who worked as an accountant, lost his job during the Great Depression which led to poverty and the loss of her brother Jeffrey in 1937. Jeffrey was deaf and mute and a major contributing factor in his death was his disability; he died while crossing a street and failing to notice a car.

At the time of her marriage McClintock was not able to apply for paid work, however, she volunteered extensively with a number of organisations including the Marriage Guidance Council, the Legacy Club and the New South Wales Council of Social Service (NCOSS). She would later recal being 'practically put out' of the Australian Association of Social Workers for her objection, when volunteering at NCOSS, to use their centralised system to check claims made by people for emergency relief due to her belief that it implied a moral judgement on those making requests. She saw poverty as a 'lack of access to all those goods, services and information essential to full participation in the community' and not only a simple lack of money.

McClintock retired in 1983, in part due to factional disputes within the organisation, leading to her resignation.

Later life In retirement McClintock continued to volunteer and, in 1984, was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her 'service to the community in the field of social welfare'. In 1989 she completed a bachelor's degree in legal studies at Macquarie University.

McClintock died in Hunters Hill on 9 September 1996.