Helen Frances (Anderson) Blaxland DBE (1908 - 1989)

Born 21 Jun 1908 in Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Gregory Hamilton Blaxland — married 8 Nov 1927 in Double Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Died 17 Dec 1989 at age 81 in Menangle, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Helen (Anderson) Blaxland DBE is Notable.

Dame Helen Frances Blaxland DBE, charity worker and conservationist. Tall and elegant, with grey eyes and brown hair which turned early to white, Dame Helen was confident, forthright and decisive; an educator with great foresight who set a standard of excellence among all those who worked with her.

Born Helen Frances Anderson on 21st June 1908 at Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia, she was the sixth of seven children of noted Sydney businessman, Brigadier General Sir Robert Anderson, and his wife, Lady Jean Anderson née Amos.^[1] Helen was educated at Bedales School, Hampshire, England; Frensham, Mittagong, New South Wales; and Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School.

On 8th November 1927 she married with Presbyterian forms, engineer Gregory Blaxland, a great grandson of famous Blue Mountains explorer Gregory Blaxland, at her parents’ home in New South Head Road, Double Bay. They lived first at Bellevue Hill, then at Woollahra in a nineteenth-century house, Brush (named after Gregory Blaxland’s farm). Their only child, Antonia, was born in 1929.

For twelve years from the outbreak of the Second World War, Helen worked for the Australian Red Cross Society, New South Wales division, often dealing with special appeals. In 1953-54 she served on the council of the National Art Gallery Society of New South Wales. In 1957 she advised the architect John Mansfield on the decor for Kirribilli House. She contributed to numerous publications on architecture, decorative arts, entertaining and food. In 1959 Mrs Blaxland joined the National Trust of Australia (New South Wales). She was also a foundation trustee (1970-89) of the National Parks and Wildlife Foundation (New South Wales).

In 1946 she published Flower Pieces, on the art of flower arrangement, with photographs of her work by Max Dupain and Olive Cotton. Collected Flower Pieces (1949) presented arrangements by her friends.

Helen was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1967 and in 1975 she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Grieving after her daughter’s death four months earlier, she passed away on 17th December 1989 at Camden Park, Menangle, New South Wales. The Dame Helen Blaxland Foundation for the continued preservation of Experiment Farm Cottage, Old Government House and Lindesay was established to commemorate her life.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #182061/1908

See also

• Simpson, Caroline. Blaxland, Dame Helen Frances (1907–1989). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 13 Dec 2018