The second Anglican bishop of Christchurch, Churchill Julius, sent a request to London for a deaconess to be sent who could establish a religious community in Christchurch. Frederick Temple, the bishop of London, recommended Mellish to him. Bishop Julius, who travelled to London with his wife and daughters in 1893 for health reasons, met Mellish and they returned to New Zealand on the Ruahine; they arrived in Auckland on 14 August 1893, and Mellish arrived in Lyttelton (Christchurch's port) on 22 August.
