Cecilia Downing

Cecilia Downing ( Hopkins; 1858–1952) was an Australian temperance and women's rights activist and leader. She was one of Australia's first child-probation officers. A devout Baptist, she was an influential leader in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australasia, the Housewives' Association of Victoria, the Federated Association of Australian Housewives, and the Traveller's Aid Society. She was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1950.

Early life Cecilia Hopkins was born on 13 January 1858 in Islington, London, England. Not long after her birth, her parents, Issac and Mary Hopkins, emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where Issac Hopkins found work as a plasterer. The family lived in Williamstown, Victoria.

Cecilia Hopkins attended the Training Institution in Carlton, and earned a teaching certificate for primary education. The couple had seven children together. Downing helped launch a local chapter in Kyneton. She later became the president of the regional division of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria in 1912, after serving for a time as the recording secretary. She also directed the immigration department for the Union, beginning in 1911. She also served as president of the national organization, the Federated Association of Australian Housewives, from 1940 to 1945. While she led the national organization, its membership grew to 130,000 members, making it the largest women's organization in the country at the time.

She served as the secretary of the Baptist's Women's Association Victoria, and in 1940, helped launch the Victorian Women's Inter-church Council.

On 8 June 1950, Downing was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for "service to social welfare services in Victoria."

Death Cecilia Downing died on 30 August 1952, aged 94, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Her son Walter Hubert Downing was a lawyer and author of two books, including Digger Dialects, on words and expressions coined by Australian soldiers in WWI.