Helen Nora Curle Smith, née Murdoch, was born in Scotland and was the elder sister of Professor Walter Murdoch, the renowned essayist and academic. She arrived in Melbourne with her family in 1884 and married another Scot, David Curle Smith, in 1891. They moved to Kalgoorlie that same year, as David was appointed as an electrical engineer with the Kalgoorlie Municipal Council.

In addition to being a skilled ... painter, Helen Nora Curle Smith was a dedicated volunteer for the Red Cross in Kalgoorlie during World War I. For her tireless efforts, she was awarded an MBE in 1920. Beyond her contributions to charity, she also made a significant mark in the culinary world by writing the first-ever cookbook for electric ovens. Titled Thermo-Electrical Cooking Made Easy, the book was published in 1906 in support of her husband David Curle Smith’s invention of the electric stove.

David Curle Smith, an electrical engineer trained in Glasgow, worked for the Kalgoorlie Municipal Council, where he was responsible for lighting the goldfields. The municipality was building and renting out electric ovens to residents, but the project eventually became uneconomical and was shelved.