Gympie Ladies Benevolent Society first formed in 1870-71 but was short lived. After only around eight months of charitable service, they disbanded due to the Gympie Hospital Destitute Fund/Committee declaring the town did not need two groups of the same kind. Twenty years later, in 1891, the Colonial Secretary’s office wrote to town mayors and recommended towns establish benevolent societies (if not already established) to receive government monetary support….and thus the Gympie Ladies Benevolent Society was revived!

History of the Gympie Ladies Benevolent Society
(for more comprehensive history, contact the Local History officer at Gympie Regional Libraries)

1870 (March):
George Thrower, in the Gympie Flood Relief Public Meeting, suggested that £50 should be made a reserve fund for the founding of a benevolent society

1870 (April): A large descriptive article is published in The Gympie Times to propose the establishment of a Ladies Benevolent Society.

1871 (Feb): Transferal of the balance in hand to the Destitute Branch of the Gympie Hospital

1871 (Feb): Excerpt:

“In bringing this Society to a close, the Committee are not urged by any fear of their not receiving the support of the public, for the fact must be patent to all that since the Society has been formed begging from house to house, which was getting to be a public nuisance, has almost, if not entirely, ceased ; but their sole reason was a desire to prevent, as far as possible, cases of imposition, which it would be most difficult to discover or prevent were two kindred institutions in active operation ; the one under the Hospital Committee, the other under the Ladies Benevolent Society”.

TWENTY YEARS LATER……. 1891 …..