Hume and the Great War: Dame Alice Chisholm

As we commemorate 100 years of the Anzac spirit, we acknowledge the indispensable role played by women in the Great War.

Many served as nurses in the battle zones, or filled the positions of men in factories and on farms here at home.

Alice Chisholm (nee Morphy 1856-1954) was a devoted war welfare worker who established soldiers’ canteens in Egypt and Palestine providing meals and refreshments to thousands of troops every day. During her four years of service during the war, she became known as “Mother Chisholm”.

Born in Goulburn to a well-known farming family and the wife of prominent pastoralist, William Chisholm, Alice Isabel Chisholm sailed for Egypt in mid-1915 with one of her daughters, after her son Bertram was wounded serving as a light horseman at Gallipoli.

The lack of facilities for Australian troops prompted Mrs Chisholm, with her own funds, to start three canteens – the first in Heliopolis, followed by Port Said and the most popular at a Suez Canal crossing at Kantara, which was expanded to include dormitories and showers.

The Australian War Memorial says Mrs Chisholm’s canteens were a “cherished institution” in the Middle East. Soldiers flocked there in their spare time or when on leave and for a small price they found care, comfort, food and rare luxuries like warm beds and showers.

The growth of the canteens can be measured by one occasion where 60,000 eggs were cooked in the kitchens in one day. 

Official war artist and renowned Australian painter George Lambert sketched Mrs Chisholm on his way back from fieldwork in Palestine and described her canteens as “a touch of home”.

Soldiers wrote of her “true Australian bush hospitality”. “If you could break off from the column, a cup of tea was your prize – given with affectionate greeting and a motherly smile.”

On her return to Goulburn, Mayor Alderman Emanuel Rogers, said Mrs Chisholm had “earned the gratitude of many anxious mothers and the warm thanks and regard of thousands of brave men...”

At the end of the war Mrs Chisholm insisted that the profits from the canteens be used to provide canteen facilities on the ships which were carrying troops home. She later helped fund the establishment of the Returned Soldier’s Club in Goulburn. For her war work she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 1920.

As we approach the centenary of the Gallipoli landings we pay tribute to the sacrifices of families from the Hume region and to women like Alice Chisholm for the role they played in sustaining the Great War effort.

Thankyou to the Australian War Memorial, Goulburn Historical Society, Goulburn resident Tony Morrison and Carilyn Chown, author of “The Clan Chisholm in Australia: 1790-1990”.

Angus Taylor MP

Dame Alice Chisholm

Angus Taylor visiting Kippilaw church and cemetery near Goulburn with Chisholm family descendants William ‘Chis’ Maxwell and Tony Morrison.

Additional: Kippilaw restoration almost complete

Restoration work is nearly complete on the historic Kippilaw church and cemetery near Goulburn, where many of the pioneering grazing family the Chisholms are buried. Descendent and Goulburn resident Tony Morrison, said the Kippilaw restoration work had been a three year project by volunteers and funded largely by the family and local connections. Repairs have been done to the church’s guttering and stonework, as well as major work on the dilapidated interior with painting and sanding of the floorboards.

Kippilaw was one of the original Chisholm-owned properties with a Church of England Church built on the site in the 1850s. Dame Alice Chisholm is buried at Kippilaw, along with James Chisholm (II) - a son of the first Chisholm to arrive in Australia - who served in the NSW parliament as a member of the Legislative Assembly and later the Legislative Council.

Visiting Kippilaw Church, Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor congratulated Tony Morrison and his team for their commitment to preserving local history.