She was the originator of the Caroline Chisholm Barracks (or Cottage) at 3 Mill St, East Maitland, known in times past as the Maitland Benevolent Asylum (Maitland's first hospital) and the East Maitland Immigrants' Home.

She was perhaps Australia's greatest nineteenth century female philanthropist.

Born in England in 1808 and raised to believe in the dignity of the individual human being, Chisholm arrived in Sydney in 1838 on the "Emerald Isle' with her army officer husband, Archibald, and their children.

She quickly noted the hardships of many other arrivals people were landing with no job, family, contacts, money or accommodation and she moved to alleviate their situations by establishing hostels and helping immigrants to find work.

Her efforts began in Hyde Park, where her ability to interest authorities in humanitarian projects first became evident.

She convinced Governor Sir George Gipps to allow her to establish a home for girls: this became the Female Immigrants' Home which accommodated nearly a hundred young women.

She sought to get them jobs, mainly outside Sydney on farms and in small towns from Goulburn to Brisbane, and she established several hostels in which they and other poor people could live.

Chisholm helped thousands to establish themselves in New South Wales.

She pushed British politicians to improve conditions on immigrant ships and in Australia she sought to publicise the dreadful living conditions endured by many on the Victorian goldfields.

To finance her endeavours she raised money by giving lectures in England, on the continent and in Australia. She lobbied politicians, media figures and even the Pope for help.

She was particularly noted for the assistance she gave to young immigrant women. Some of them, robbed, exploited and destitute, had had to resort to prostitution to survive.

She met many women on Sydney's wharves, took them under her wing and shielded them from potential personal disaster.

One of her hostels, the only one in a building that still exists today, was located in East Maitland. It was established in 1842 in a row of very basic, low-cost, one-storey sandstone terraces built between 1831 and 1835 by 'Gentleman' John Smith.

Smith had been one of the original convict settlers of Wallis Plains and had prospered in business in the Maitland area and Newcastle. His terraces were known as "Smith's Row".

The Mill Street cottage which Chisholm rented from Smith was protected by a Permanent Conservation Order in 1987 and added to the NSW State Heritage Register in 1999.

It is one of the oldest buildings in Maitland and the most famous in the locality once known as "Moontown" which comprised Mill, Emerald, Courtland and Villa streets.

Long after her death in England in 1877, Chisholm's legacy was recognised in Australia. For nearly 30 years from the late 1960s her image adorned the $5 note, and suburbs in the ACT and Chisholm estate, off Raymond Terrace Road, are named after her. A Heritage NSW 'blue plaque' honouring Chisholm's legacy was erected on the Mill Street Cottage in 2022.