Stella George was educated at the Melrose school in the early 1890s. Her mother died when she was sixteen, when the family of seven children was still young, so George helped her carpenter/wheelwright father care for them. During this time they lived at Balaklava, South Australia. She won two medals at Balaklava – for elocution (1909) and for a recital (1910).
In 1915, George became a Sister of the People with the Adelaide Central Mission, taking the name Sister Dora. She worked for ten years until illness forced her to rest. She returned to work in 1926 or 1927, taking up an appointment at the Bowden and Brompton Mission, where she spent the next twenty years providing relief for the poor and disadvantaged . George was due for retirement in 1946, but instead took a new job at Hackney mission. A very energetic woman, with a strong personality, she was successful in attracting donations of clothing, furniture and money to the Hackney mission for the needy. She found her work very fulfilling, and – apparently speaking from her own experience – she wrote a letter to the Adelaide Advertiser in 1932 saying that a career and motherhood were separate, and that some women were unsuitable for motherhood.
George was deaf for many years and used a big ear trumpet before she was fitted with a hearing aid. Later in life, she no longer wore her uniform of cap and starched cuffs, but a simple, grey uniform. In 1968 she was made Member of the Order of the British Empire. She lived most of her life in Unley, eventually retiring to 'Resthaven' where she died at the age of 91.
As well as the titles listed on AustLit, George wrote the inspirational books The Touch of the King [1923], In the Service of the King (1938), God in Bowden (1939) and Our Father (1949).
