She was renowned for her work in promoting the welfare of children in Australia, and the Lady Gowrie Child Centres were named in her honour.

[3] In the 1930s Lady Gowrie heard the budding opera singer Joan Hammond, and she fostered her career, including organising the costs of her travel to Europe to study music, and putting her in touch with the director of the Vienna Boys' Choir, then visiting Australia.

[2][5] In around 1939, the Lady Gowrie Child Centres in the state capital cities were established by the Commonwealth Government to demonstrate exemplary benchmarks of quality in early childhood practice.

In Perth, Western Australia, a centre was established in about 1940 in Victoria Park, which is now supplanted by local council administrative offices.

She hosted a Garden Fair at Government House, Canberra, which raised a very considerable sum for those days of £3,500, and she also donated some of her personal belongings for a raffle.

[3] She was an enthusiast for the Girl Guides movement, president of the South Australian branch of the Red Cross Society and was associated with the Victoria League.

She indicated she would be delighted to accept the gift, even though the two nations were now at war and over 20,000 Australian soldiers were in Japanese captivity following the fall of Singapore.

[3] Dame Joan Hammond's career had come to an end through illness, and she sang in public for the last time at Lady Gowrie's funeral on 30 July 1965, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The elder, Patrick Hore-Ruthven, a poet and soldier, was born on 30 August 1913 and was killed on active service in Libya on 24 December 1942, after leading a commando raid on Tripoli.

It continues around the North Haven Golf Course as Lady Ruthven Drive, then returns southward as Victoria Road.

A plaque was affixed to a sundial in the garden of Yarralumla, Canberra, which reads: "1936-1944, the Australian Children remember with affection the Lord and Lady Gowrie.