Kumm, Frances Gertrude

Entry type: Person
Entry ID: AWE0969

OBE

(1886 – 1966)

Born 8 April 1886, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia
Died 4 June 1966, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Occupation Community worker, Women's rights activist

Summary

Frances Gertrude Kumm (nee Cato), influenced by her mother F.J. Cato and sister Una Porter (nee Cato) – both ardent Young Women’s Christian Association supporters – joined the Young Women’s Christian Association’s National World Fellowship Committee in 1931 and was made president of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Melbourne (1943 – 1945).

Kumm held the office of National president from 1945 – 1951, visiting ‘all local associations’ throughout Australia during this time. She attended the World Young Women’s Christian Association Council meetings in China (1947) and Lebanon (1951) and was ‘for some time’ Vice President of the World Young Women’s Christian Association Council.

Instrumental in early Young Women’s Christian Association immigration committees, Kumm was elected to the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council in 1949 and was President of the Victoria National Council of Women. She received an OBE in 1948 and made the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Details

Served on numerous committees: National World Fellowship (joined 1931); National Extension (1938-40); Southern Regional (1944). It is claimed in the sources that she had an ongoing interest in immigration issues, which led to her election to the Immigration Advisory Council.

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Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives
- Young Women's Christian Association of Australia

Published resources

Resource Section
- Kumm, Frances Gertrude (1886-1966), McCalman, Janet, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150057b.htm
Book
- The Dauntless Bunch : The Story of the YWCA in Australia, Dunn, Margaret, 1991
Thesis
- The Mother's anxious future : Australian Christian Women's Organisations meet the modern world, 1890s-1930s, Warne, Ellen Mary, 2000
Resource
- Trove: Kumm, Frances Gertrude (1886-1966), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-742092
Site Exhibition
- The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds.), 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders

Related entries

Presided
- National Council of Women of Victoria (1902 - )
- Women's Hospital (1943 - 1954)
Membership
- Melbourne Young Women's Christian Association (Melbourne Y.W.C.A.) (1882 - 1999)
Sister
- Porter, Una Beatrice (1900 - 1996)
Related Organisations
- Methodist Ladies' College (MLC), Melbourne (1882 - )
Related Concepts
- Women and Religion in Australia

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