Our Benefactress

The life of Helen Macpherson Smith was not one that made headlines, instead it was a quiet, comfortable and refined life. She grew up and married in Melbourne and at the age of 49, moved to Europe, secure in the financial and social legacy of a family of entrepreneurs in land, farming and timber. She was born in Scotland in 1874 to her Scottish father, Robert Smith and her Australian mother of Scottish descent, Jane Priscilla Macpherson.

Helen attended school in Scotland, Europe and Australia.

In 1901, aged 27, Helen married William John Schutt. He was 33, a barrister, raconteur, Essendon footballer and later to become a Justice of the Victorian Supreme Court. Of the 22 years of their married life in Melbourne, little is known. They had no children and Helen’s name rarely appeared in the social pages of newspapers or magazines.

It is through the reporting of William’s life, especially after his retirement from the bench, that we learn something of Helen’s life in Europe, where she lived from early 1924 until her death in 1951.

In Europe, Helen travelled widely, with a base in both Switzerland and the south of France. She and William made extensive trips together in Europe, their activities widely reported in the press.

William Schutt died in 1933, aged 65, after an accident on board ship while returning to Australia from one of his many visits abroad to travel with Helen.

In 1951, while living at the Hotel Majestic in Cannes on the French Riviera, Helen contracted pneumonia and died.

Her story could have ended there but for the fact that on her death, she left the majority of her considerable wealth to establish a philanthropic trust to benefit Victorian charities. The assets of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust are today worth over $100 million. Since its inception to June 2006, the Trust has given grants totalling $65 million to fund a variety of Victorian non profit organisations. Recipients include hospitals, art galleries, museums, homes for the aged, educational institutions and medical research bodies, among many others.

Helen’s financial legacy is not the only lasting mark left on Australia and its people. Helen's forebears - both Macphersons and Smiths - were generous, strong, energetic and resourceful, and include many who have contributed much to Australian life.