Anne Syrett Green

Anne Syrett Green (2 December 1858–14 April 1936) was an Australian welfare worker and evangelist. She was the first woman superintendent of the Adelaide City Mission.

Early life and education Green was born on 2 December 1858 in Brunswick, Melbourne, the sixth child of butcher Henry Green and his wife Emma Syrett. She attended the Presbyterian Common School and her family were part of Brunswick Baptist Church. They moved to South Australia in 1877.

In 1921, the mission was unable to find a male superintendent and so instead responsibility for its operations was given to the Salvation Army. Although the role of superintendent did not change with a woman at the helm, it was "reconceptualised" as one of caring rather than managing.

During the Great Depression, South Australian Premier Richard Layton Butler approached Green to assist with accommodation for homeless men and she oversaw extensive relief work, running some of the Welfare Department's services for a time. However, from 1930 she refused government work as she felt it compromised the mission's independence. About 500 men marched to the Mission demanding an apology. Green asked them to join the 3p.m. service, where she said she was not prepared to withdraw one word and stood by all she had said.

Death Green died on 14 April 1936 at her home in Kingswood and is buried in the Mitcham Cemetery.