The organisation is named after Louisa Eleanor Lort Smith (née Montgomery). Born in 1875, Louisa was the daughter of an Irish soldier settler, and grew up on a cattle farm, "Childhood Heart", near Sale in Gippsland, Victoria.
One of twelve children, young Louisa was sensitive to animal welfare, and this shaped a lifelong dedication to preventing cruelty to all animals.
Marriage to respected Melbourne solicitor Charles Lort Smith in 1925 didn't dampen Louisa's fierce belief in animal rights. In 1927, she and other advocates formed the Animal Welfare League of Victoria. A true visionary and well ahead of her time, Louisa recognised the need for an animal hospital open to all creatures, whatever their carer's circumstances.
No one has ever been able to resist Lady Lyle and Louisa Lort Smith.
A journalist, 1938
Lady Frances Lyle
The indefatigable Louisa convinced her friend Lady Frances Lyle, a passionate animal lover herself, to donate £5,000 to the project. The Lort Smith-Lyle Hospital for Sick and Injured Animals opened in Villiers Street, North Melbourne, in April 1936, and is still serving the community from this central location.
Since then, demand for our care has led to a new clinic and adoption hub in Campbellfield, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, which opened in December 2021, and the redevelopment of our Villiers Street hospital.
A journalist wrote in 1938 that "No one has ever been able to resist Lady Lyle and Louisa Lort Smith", and that's as true today as it was then.
The mission of these formidable women, and their progressive ideas about the common good of animals and the people who care for them, are as powerful as ever. The original Lort Smith vision of a world where everyone can share the love of an animal is definitely alive and well in the 21st century.