Alice Chisholm

Dame Alice Isabel Chisholm DBE (née Morphy; 3 July 1856 – 30 May 1954), known familiarly as "Mother Chisholm", was an Australian woman who provided canteen services for soldiers in Egypt and Palestine during World War I.

Early life
She was born at Reevesdale near Goulburn, New South Wales to Major Richard John Morphy, pastoralist of Grena Mummell, Goulburn, and his wife Mary Emma, née Styles. She was raised by maternal grandparents, after her mother died of measles, because her father was away serving in the Indian Army. She was educated at home. In 1877, she married pastoralist William Alexander Chisholm, a widower (died 1902); the couple had three sons and two daughters, two of whom predeceased their mother.

First World War
During the First World War her son Bertram was wounded at Gallipoli. She travelled to Egypt to be closer to him; when she arrived she noticed the lack of facilities for the troops and established a canteen in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis largely at her own expense. She opened a second canteen in Egypt at Port Said, and a third in Kantara for troops fighting near the Suez Canal with two other Australasian women. The Kantara canteen expanded to include dormitories and dining-rooms and eventually had the capacity for handling thousands of men. Profits from the canteens were used to provide the troops with comforts for their journey home.

Post-war
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1918 and promoted to Dame Commander (DBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours. When she returned to Australia she continued working within the community. She helped found the Returned and Services League of Australia in Goulburn and she was active in the Country Women's Association and RSPCA.

Death
Survived by two sons and a daughter, she died at her home at West Pennant Hills on 30 May 1954, aged 97 years 11 months, and was buried in the Church of England cemetery at Kippilaw, near Goulburn. She was Australia's oldest dame, a record that was not broken until Dame Elisabeth Murdoch surpassed her age in January 2007.

Legacy
A street in the Canberra suburb of Cook is named in her honour. Upon her return to Australia she lived in a house called "Bolderwood" in the Sydney North West suburb of Pennant Hills. The house still stands today.