In 1913 the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), in the face of mounting pressure, decided to readmit women as Fellows (FRGS). Amongst the first group of successful nominees was Frances B. Lysnar, a New Zealand teacher, amateur artist and traveller. This paper briefly positions Lynsar in colonial New Zealand and examines how she engaged with ‘geography’, revisits her book New Zealand: The Dear Old Maori Land (1915), and assesses how she used ‘FRGS’ status to give added credential to her work raising funds for Pandita Ramabai's Mukti Mission in India.