Helen Macpherson Smith

Newspaper clipping about Helen Macpherson Smith. She left £275,000, the majority of her wealth, to establish a perpetual philanthropic trust to benefit Victorian charitable institutions. In 2015, 64 years after her death, the value of HMS Trust’s investments totalled $104 million and almost $110 million of grants had been approved. Helen was the daughter of Robert Smith who, with his brothers, owned Smith's timber yard in Albert Street, East Melbourne, on the site of what is now the old Baptist Church. The land went through to Victoria Parade and after the church was built the timber yard continued to function behind the church and the synagogue next door. None of the Smith brothers lived in East Melbourne but one of them, Charles, built the house at 101 Powlett Street, now known as Magnolia Court.