A lot has changed in the police force since Yvonne (nee Robertson) Tupman was one of the first women to don a police uniform in New South Wales.
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Born in Orange in 1920, Mrs Tupman celebrated her 100th birthday on October 3.
An occasion that prompted even her family to reflect with some awe on the pioneering route she carved as one of the first policewomen in the state.
The world as well as the police force were very different beasts in 1945.
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Mrs Tupman was 25-years-old and fresh out of the army when she joined.
Along with her female colleagues, Mrs Tupman (then Miss Robertson) wasn't permitted to ride in the police cars or to be involved in more serious police work.
The one duty the women were allowed to perform -- directing traffic -- sparked great controversy because it was thought the female officers would distract motorists and cause accidents.
She along with just two other policewomen were the first female officers in the state to be tasked with controlling traffic on Sydney's busy streets, sometimes having to deal with drivers who were reluctant to take instruction from women in uniforms.
In a video interview recorded late last year, the then-99-year-old spoke about a run-in with one disgruntled tram driver who "wasn't real happy" when he saw it was a woman signalling him to stop.
Other duties assigned to the first policewomen included attending schools to warn children about speaking to strangers and escorting children to court for various reasons.
"Women were never included in murder (cases), unless they took you along and you took notes (for the male officers)," she explained.
She's pretty amazing in terms of what she's achieved.
- Yvonne Tupman's granddaughter Jessica Bardetta
"But the only way they could get you there was not in the police car - it was in a side-car. I hated it!" she said with laugh.
"I felt as though I was going to get my head chopped off by the oncoming traffic. But when you're in a job like that you've got to do as you're told."
Stationed first at Newtown in Sydney's inner-west, Mrs Tupman then returned to the Central West to work at Bathurst station.
It was around this time that she met and hit it off with fellow officer, Harry Tupman. When the two were married, Mrs Tupman was forced to resign from the police force.
"They didn't want to once you got married," she explained. "I had my daughters, that was the most important thing in my life".
In the years that followed Mr Tupman became an accomplished and celebrated detective. So much so that when he died in 2015, he received obituaries in The Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph.
Granddaughter Jessica Bardetta still marvels at what her nanna achieved all those years ago.
"She's pretty amazing in terms of what she's achieved," she said.
"She's my nanna but she's also quite ground-breaking in her own right."
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