In 1882 Moorhouse told the Melbourne Church Assembly (Synod) of his intention to establish a Melbourne Deaconesses Home, building on the experience of the English Church since the revival of the Order of Deaconesses there in 1861. This would provide an authorised form of ministry for women, to work in areas such as education and what was then described as "rescue work" among the poorer areas of Melbourne. On 8 February 1884 he ordained Marion Macfarlane as a deaconess at Christ Church South Yarra, the first ordination of a woman in the Australian Anglican Church.