Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was born in Toorak and educated at Clyde School, Woodend. From her early years she has actively and enthusiastically supported her lifelong interests: children's health and welfare, the arts, and gardening. In 1933, at 24 years old she joined the Board of Management of the Royal Children's Hospital and from 1954-65 held the position of President. She was a founding Trustee of the Taralye Council for Children with Impaired Hearing. Dame Elisabeth has been an influential patron of the arts and she was the first woman to be appointed Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. She is now an Emeritus Trustee of the Gallery. As well, she has been a member of the Boards of Management of both the McClelland Art Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, and the Victorian Tapestry Workshop. Dame Elisabeth helped to establish the Elisabeth Murdoch Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Melbourne and was for 27 years a member of the Maude Gibson Gardens Trust, in support of the Royal Botanical Gardens and Herbarium. Dame Elisabeth lives by her belief that, ‘A caring role in the community gives me the greatest happiness.'