Champions for Homeless Women

The Governor was pleased to host a reception in support of The Lady Musgrave Trust at Government House on Tuesday 30 August, to acknowledge the valuable and life-changing work they do with vulnerable young women in our State.

As one of Queensland’s oldest charities, The Lady Musgrave Trust has been supporting at-risk women and their children for 137 years.

Over that time, the organisation has enjoyed continual Vice-Regal Patronage, commencing with Lady Musgrave – wife of Queensland’s sixth Governor – who founded the Trust in 1885 together with a group of community-minded people.

Lady Musgrave and her associates would meet the steamships arriving into Brisbane’s Queens Wharf from the United Kingdom and take care of any young women who were unattached with nowhere else to go.

The Lady Musgrave Lodge was established in Spring Hill in 1891 and named in her honour. It provided safe accommodation for young women in need and training in duties such as cooking and nursing - skills that would help provide for a better life.

In 1972, the Lodge closed and the money from the sale helped the Trust buy newer buildings and different types of accommodation for vulnerable women. It also provided much-needed funding for customised counselling services.

As Patron of The Lady Musgrave Trust, the Governor is proud to support their vision for all women throughout Queensland to be free from homelessness.