Clan Munro (Association) Australia : The Official Registered Website of the Association

More about :

As Lady Galway, the wife of the Governor of South Australia, wrote,

'... when Lady Helen lifted a finger I stood, metaphorically speaking, to attention ...'

When she returned to Europe in 1920 Lady Helen kept up her association with Australia by representing the Australian Red Cross for many years at the Red Cross' headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lady Helen believed that Red Cross work was primarily the domain of women. She saw it as a woman's way of contributing to the war effort, and did not want men to take it over at any level. Under Lady Helen's leadership, therefore, Red Cross in Australia was pitched to women and, where possible, organised and run by women. Australian women responded by flocking to the organisation with its extensive web of branch networks, all focusing on the war effort and improvement of the suffering of soldiers and non-combatants affected by the war. Many times it was suggested that the Red Cross should be run by a man but Lady helen resisted that pressure and kept control of the organisation she had founded.

Lady Helen liked the Australian women and they liked her. At one of the many farewell functions, Mary Hughes, wife of the prime minister, referred to the 'warm feeling of affection and esteem in which her Excellency was held by the women of Australia', especially 'through the interest which she had taken in their social well being' and in causes such as infant welfare, kindergartens and bush nursing.

Lady Helen died in 1941.

Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson, wife of the Governor General of Australia presenting regimental colours to the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment.