Christmas 1917 Mary Coutts Michie CBE, the Widow of George MCulloch a Scottish Australian mine owner, loaned her Mansion at 184 Queens Gate for use as a British Red Cross hospital during the Great War. It was also known as the Michie hospital. In the middle of the photograph is a large Christmas Tree bedecked with flags of many nations. There is a story that Australian soldiers were particularly welcome to socials at the house. http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/item/3794?CISOBOX=1&REC=1 And just a little off topic but interesting nonetheless ....... McCULLOCH, GEORGE (1848-1907), station manager, was born on 22 April 1848 in Glasgow, Scotland, son of James McCulloch, contractor. Educated at High School and at the Andersonian University, Glasgow, he followed pastoral pursuits in Mexico and elsewhere with little success before arriving at Sydney in the 1870s. His uncle, James McCulloch, appointed him manager of McCulloch, Sellar & Co.'s Mount Gipps station, near Broken Hill, with an eighth share of the profits; it was a well-developed property of 540,000 acres (218,533 ha) with 71,000 sheep in 1877. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050161b.htm
