Deborah Vernon Buller Murphy (née Drake-Brockman, previously Hackett and Moulden; 18 June 1887 – 16 April 1965), best known as Lady Hackett or Lady Moulden, was an Australian community worker, philanthropist, and mining investor.Alexandra Hasluck (1983
'Hackett, Deborah Vernon (1887–1965)'

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, pp 149–150. Born in West Guildford,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, on 18 June 1887, she was the daughter of surveyor

Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman, also known as Frederick Slade Brockman, (9 July 1857 – 11 September 1917) was a Surveyor General and explorer of Western Australia. Early life Born at Seabrook near Northam in Western Australia, he was the son ...

and heroine

Grace Vernon Bussell Grace Vernon Drake-Brockman (née Bussell; 23 September 1860 – 7 October 1935), commonly referred to as Grace Bussell, was a woman from Western Australia. In 1876, as a 16-year-old, she was involved with Sam Isaacs in the rescue of the SS ' ...

and younger sister of

Edmund Drake-Brockman Major General Edmund Alfred Drake-Brockman, (21 February 1884 – 1 June 1949) was an Australian soldier, politician, and judge. He served in both the First and Second World Wars. He was a Senator for Western Australia from 1920 to 1926, repre ...

.Family Tree

, National Centre of Biography at the Australian National University. On 3 August 1905, at the age of 18, she married (Sir) John Winthrop Hackett (1848-1916), who was forty years her senior. He was a newspaper proprietor, newspaper editor, and prominent Western Australian politician.Lyall Hunt (1983
'Hackett, Sir John Winthrop (1848–1916)'

, Volume 9, (MUP) They had a son, also named John Winthrop Hackett (later General Sir John Hackett (1910-1997) commander-in-chief of the British Army on the Rhine before becoming principal of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

upon retirement), and four daughters. Hackett senior died in 1916 leaving a large estate to his family, and a large endowment to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. On 10 April 1918 Lady Hackett, now aged 30, married (Sir) Frank Beaumont Moulden and moved to Adelaide; she was Lady Mayoress of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

1919–1921, and became Lady Moulden in 1922. Moulden died after a cerebral haemorrhage on 8 April 1932. "Having no children, he helped to raise his wife's five and the three of his late brother".Elizabeth Kwan (1986
'Moulden, Sir Frank Beaumont (1876–1932)'

, Volume 10, (MUP) In 1923 Lady Moulden became interested in

tantalite The mineral group tantalite Fe,_manganese.html"_;"title="iron.html"_;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta2oxygen.html" ;"title="manganese">Mn)Tantalum.html" ;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manga ...

, a rare mineral found in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and at

Wodgina The Wodgina mine is an exhausted iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 90 kilometres south of Port Hedland. The mine was operated by Atlas Iron Limited. The facilities and tenements are shared, by contract, with Glo ...

. Tantalite was scarce throughout the world, and the price of

tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is ...

was enormous; she saw the wealth that it could bring to Australia, particularly if it was processed in Australia, but the government was not particularly interested in the idea. She founded Tantalite Ltd which was incorporated in 1932. In World War II her tantalum was used in developing radar; the need for it became so obvious to the previously reluctant Commonwealth government that it resumed Tantalite Ltd for the duration of the war. In 1932, the

conferred upon her an honorary Doctorate of Laws. The degree was awarded ''in absentia'' due to the recent death of Sir Frank Moulden. On 27 June 1936 she married Basil Buller Murphy, a barrister nine years her junior; she became known as Dr Buller Murphy. He died 10 March 1963. She died at her home, Lordello, (in

Kilsyth, Victoria Kilsyth is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 36 km east from Melbourne's central business district (CBD), located within the City of Maroondah and the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government areas. Kilsyth recorded a population of ...

) on 16 April 1965 and was buried in Karrakatta cemetery, Perth.

Notes

Further reading