The Benevolent Society was formed to provide non-institutional aid to women and children through voluntary charitable work. The emphasis was on personal visits, providing advice and sympathy as well as support in kind - clothing, food, blankets, rent, fares and so on. Similar groups soon developed:for instance, in 1863 women in Onehunga responded to the emergency when distressed women were evacuated from the upper Manukau to escape a perceived Màori threat, and established a Society which endured for well over a century.