Obituaries Australia

The news of the death last evening of Mrs. Edward [Marie] Bage will be received, particularly by women interested in public affairs, with deep regret. To the general public Mrs. Bage was best known through her association with the National Council of Women of Victoria, of which she was an inaugural member and treasurer for more than 20 years. In honour of her services she was elected vice-president for life. She was a member of the International Council of Women, and in 1909 she accompanied Mrs. Thomas Baker to attend a congress of the council in Toronto (Canada). In philanthropy Mrs. Baker’s interests were wide. In 1900 she joined the committee of the Convalescent Home for Women at Clayton, and the Parents’ National Education Union and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children interested her from their beginnings. For many years she was a member of the City Newsboys’ Society and of the Charity Organisation Society. In 1909 she was the honorary treasurer of the Victoria League of Victoria, and was a member of the council until comparatively recently. In 1928 Mrs. Bage took an active interest in welcoming Miss Maude Royden to Melbourne, and the same year she took part in the election campaign of Mrs. Glencross at Brighton. The catholicity of her interests is shown by the fact that she was a member of the Field Naturalists’ Club, the Forest League, the Arts and Crafts Society, and the Historical Society. She was one of the first members of the Alexandra Club and a foundation member and one-time treasurer of the Lyceum Club. Mrs. Bage’s husband was the late Mr. Edward Bage, who died in 1891, and she was sister-in-law of the late Dr. Charles Bage. She was the mother of Miss Freda Bage, principal of the Women’s College, Brisbane University, and Miss Ethel Bage, who, after a distinguished career at the Melbourne University, took over the control of a motor garage in Kew on the death of her friend, Miss Alice Anderson. She is known among members of university women’s organisations throughout the Commonwealth. Mrs. Bage’s only son, Robert, was a member of the Mawson Antarctic Expedition in 1911. He served in the Royal Australian Engineers, and was killed at Gallipoli on May 7, 1915. Mrs. Bage’s home was at Cranford, Gellibrand Street, Kew, but she died in a private hospital after an illness of about a month. She was aged 68 years. The funeral will take place at the St. Kilda Cemetery at half-past 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.