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Audrey Cummins Morphett OBE (27 May 1902 – 8 October 1983) was an Australian woman who was a community worker, involved in many charitable organisations, and a historian who worked closely with her father George Cummins Morphett.[1]
Biography
[edit]Morphett was born in Mount Gambier in South Australia and she was the eldest of three children born to George Cummins Morphett and his wife Violet Alice (née Anderson). Her father was a stock and station agent and, because of this, she grew up on farms in the region and developed a love of horses. Morphett would sometimes ride her horse 97 kilometres (60 mi) a day and won races at country shows and carnivals throughout the region.[1][2]
Morphett attended school at the Geelong Church of England Girls' Grammar School and completed her studies there between 1918 and 1920.[1]
In 1923 she moved, with her family, to the home her great-grandfather, John Morphett, had built at Morphettville a suburb of Adelaide.[3] While living there Morphett volunteered for a number of organisations, including the Australian Red Cross, Girl Guides (for South Australia and the Northern Territory) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[4] In 1927 she also joined the Ladies’ Harbour Lights Guild and became its president and a major fundraiser for them and this invovlement would continue until at least the 1950s.[1][5][6]
From 1933 until 1955 Morphett also offered significant help to her father in preparing his books and other publications, primarily relating to South Australian history, for publication.[1] Moprhett would also produce her own works, often in the form of essay, an exhibition or letters to the editor of newspapers such as the The Advertiser (Adelaide).[7][8][9]
Morphett would often travel overseas or to the Northern Territory and other parts of northern Australia during the winter months.[1]
In 1938, during the lead up to World War II, Morphett began training to instruct civilians in air-raid precautions, in delivering first aid and how to respond in poison gas attacks. She also became the assistant-commandant of South Australia's Voluntary Aid Detachment and, despite her involvement in the war effort, she was rejected from the Australian Women's Army Service when she sought to enlist. This was due of her age because she was then 39 years old (women like Nellie Elizabeth Stronach successfully lied about their age to enlist). Instead Morphett became the senior inspector of women workers at a munitions factor in Salisbury and, later, trained in explosives manufacture in Melbourne. She resigned in late 1943.[1]
After the was Morphett continued her involvement in various charities and, after the death of her parents, she was entitled to a third of the income from her parents estate and moved into a house at Unley Park.[1]
In 1953 Morphett received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal and, in 1960, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[1][10][11]
She died on 8 October 1983.[1]
Legacy
[edit]Audrey Street in Novar Gardens, South Australia is named for Morphett.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Howell, P. A., "Audrey Cummins Morphett (1902–1983)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 3 July 2025
- ^ "Miss Audrey Cummins Morphett". Saturday Journal. Vol. LX, , no. 16270. South Australia. 7 February 1925. p. 10. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Now living in Adelaide". The Sun News-pictorial. No. 835. Victoria, Australia. 16 May 1925. p. 26. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Girl Guides: Glenelg Progress". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 11, , no. 891. South Australia. 22 June 1929. p. 18. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Ballet Pupils Will Help Missions To Seamen". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 95, , no. 29, 373. South Australia. 2 December 1952. p. 8. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "New President For Harbor Guild". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 96, , no. 29, 589. South Australia. 13 August 1953. p. 10. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Essay Award". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 30 March 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Pioneers' Horses". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 1 September 1936. p. 8. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Morphett, Audrey (14 September 1954). "Letter to the editor: transport of cattle, conditions in trucks cruel". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 97, , no. 29, 927. South Australia. p. 4. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "S.A. Coronation Medal List". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 95, , no. 29, 527. South Australia. 2 June 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Project, Australian Women's Archives. "Faith, Hope, Charity - Australian Women and Imperial Honours - Browse Year - 1960". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
- ^ "Street name origin" (PDF). City of West Torrens. Retrieved 3 July 2025.