Red Cross efforts, and the mufflers, socks, “washers,” and Balaclava
caps have been highly commended by expert needlewomen. In numerous
ways children have assisted in providing materials and funds for
the soldiers. Entertainments have been organised, and often talent
discovered that would otherwise have lain dormant, the children showing
unbounded enthusiasm for their work. They have also been encouraged
to give small donations, such as having an “Egg Day” at the schools,
when each child brings an egg to send to the Red Cross Kitchen. War
will ever linger in the memory of the men and women of the coming
generation. It has built a foundation of self-sacrifice and generosity
such as no piping times of peace would have achieved.
Residential Club.
FOR RETURNED SAILORS AND SOLDIERS.
It was a ladies’ committee that initiated the movement to establish
a Residential Club in Brisbane for soldiers, and their efforts have
been untiring since the first meeting was held on May 10th of last
year. Combining with the Returned Soldiers’ Association they soon
established a strong committee, the result is that the club is now
ready for the soldiers, having been officially opened by His Excellency
the Governor on the 11th of this month. The building, which is at the
corner of Wharf and Ann streets, is a two-storey building and has
every convenience for a comfortable club. Entertainments of all kinds
have been organised in the cause of the Residential Club during the
last year, the most notable being the Queen’s Carnival, which brought
in an approximate result of £4,000. £11,000 will be required to clear
the debt on the building, and so far over £7,000 has been collected or
donated towards the fund.
The furniture, which is equal to that of any club in Brisbane, has been
provided through the efforts of women on the Furnishing Committee,
the Girls’ Clubs in Brisbane, St. Stephen’s Girls, and through the
generosity of leading business firms in the city.
The club is under the management of the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’
Association. It is proposed to run it on broad lines so that any
returned soldier may feel that he has a club of his own in Brisbane.
The best possible accommodation is provided, and the tariff is made
sufficiently low to suit the average soldier’s means. It is intended to
run the club on non-political and non-sectarian lines, and no evidence
of the common bond of sympathy that exists for this movement could be
more striking than the fact that men and women of all denominations and
creeds have met together for the last year to enthusiastically further
the project.
[Illustration]
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THE RETURN.
There has been no wheat grown in the Northern war areas of France for
the last two years, but the poppies have come up just the same. The
peasants believe that the scarlet flowers have sprung up where soldiers
bled.
A laughing crowd akin to tears,
And men are passing by,
Who come from trench and battlefield
Where Soldiers’ die.
Deep notes of music rise and fall
As men have fallen, too,
When Life laugh’d low at danger-mark
And Death withdrew.
Across the hill the crimson glow
Of day’s return is blown,
And poppies nod in barren fields
Where blood was sown.
Coo-ee Cafe.
TO PROVIDE COMFORTS FOR SOLDIERS.
SOCIETY GIRLS BECOME WAITRESSES.
It would cheer the soldiers in France and Egypt if they could catch a
glimpse of the scene enacted every day and all day in Isles-lane to
provide comforts for soldiers fighting abroad. There in the Brisbane
Club building, may be seen girls in dainty white frocks and frilly caps
and aprons, cooking every day to supply the restaurant in the adjacent
compartment. In the heat of summer they stood beside the stoves, and
baked cakes and cut up sandwiches and luncheons to attend to the
ever-increasing customers in the long tea room leading from the lane,
and to-day they are as enthusiastic in their work as when the room
first opened at the beginning of the year.
Until July the tea room was in the basement of the building, and on
descending the wide steps from the lane, the first thoughts that struck
the visitor were what a charming scene, what a bevy of pretty girls,
and what a babble of tongues. The café is now situated on the ground
floor, and at small tables, daintily arrayed with the picked blossoms
from suburban and country gardens, are visitors from all parts of
Brisbane. Soldiers in khaki, tired men, soldiers in the making and
raw recruits, mingle with the civilian in mufti, while women in all
their charm of pretty frocks and subtle femininity are there to amuse
and be amused. From the far end a singer’s voice rises and the babble
is subdued to a low murmur. Again an orchestra will break forth into
melodious music, while all the time busily attending to the wants of
their customers are girls in becoming white uniforms with their frilly
aprons and mop caps.
This is no idle hobby. There is a manager, a cashier and a
superintendent, who are in daily attendance at the café, while over
200 girls each give a day a week to either cooking in the kitchen
or waiting in the restaurant. All this work is entirely voluntary.
The proceeds are devoted to the Comforts Funds of the 9th and 49th
Battalions, 9th Field Artillery and the 5th Light Horse, 10 per cent
of the takings being donated to the Queensland Soldiers’ Comforts
Fund. The committees of these various funds thought out the scheme
and launched it as a venture. It has been an unqualified success, and
they deserve all the profits they work for to send away to their men
fighting abroad for the prestige of kith and kin.
Each battalion takes two days a week, and a member from that particular
comforts fund is in charge of the working of the girls for that day.
The offices of the manager, cashier and superintendent, however, are
permanent, and have been held by the same members since the opening of
the café. Two or three days a week the soldiers of the military band
are given luncheon free, and it is a stirring scene to see them all
file in after the recruiting meetings at the Post Office. Sometimes
they play outside the lane, and from every office window along the lane
and overlooking from Queen-street, listening business girls and men are
craning to see the soldiers and listen to the delightful music of the
band.
The café is an emblem of woman’s admiration for the man in khaki. No
work is too great or too tiresome to express that hardly understood
feeling of her’s for the soldier who risks his life for his country.
And overshadowing the laughter and the music, the symbols of the
soldier are ever present, for round the walls of the café are the
glorious flags of the Empire: Australia, the 9th Battalion, 49th
Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Brigade, and the 5th Light Horse.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Toys made at the Kangaroo Point Military Hospital.]
[Illustration: The Return of Wounded Soldiers.]
Queensland Soldiers’ Sock Fund.
BRANCHES ALL OVER QUEENSLAND.
On April 19th, 1915, a movement was started in Brisbane which has
spread throughout the length and breadth of Queensland. It was the
Queensland Soldiers’ Sock Fund, and since that date over 45,000 pairs
of socks have been sent overseas to the soldiers, and considerably
over £1,900 has been collected to buy wool. The depôt is situated in
a large room behind the Queensland Foreign Mission Shop in Albert St.
one of the Hon. Secretaries and a member of the committee being in
attendance every day from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, to distribute wool and
receive the knitted socks. Wool is given out to anyone who applies, the
condition being that the socks made from such wool be brought into the
depôt and sent away with the consignments from the Queensland Soldiers’
Sock Fund. The work has increased considerably, the returns being much
greater this year than last year, and the largest number of socks yet
sent away by the fund was contained in the last consignment, when 1,697
pairs were sent overseas.
The country branches work with the same enthusiasm as those in and
around Brisbane, and parcels arrive daily from all parts of Queensland;
between 300 and 400 pairs often being received at the one time. The
school children are quite as enthusiastic as the women, and large
parcels are sent from both the state and private schools, sums of money
also being collected and handed over to the fund to purchase wool.
Every fortnight the socks are packed in cases at the depot and passed
on to the Queensland Patriotic Fund, who store them until space is
found for transport overseas. There is an ever increasing demand for
socks, and the members who have worked so consistently for over two
years, never flag in their interest. Apart from the many individual
knitters in Brisbane, there are 300 women who contribute regularly to
this particular fund, and they are just as keen to make socks to-day
as they were two years ago, when the urgent need of socks, and still
more socks, was recognised. That need has not lessened, indeed, it has
increased.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Queensland Red Cross Motor Waggon.]
Home for Wounded Soldiers.
MOVEMENT STARTED IN BRISBANE.
A meeting of women delegates from the different Comforts’ Funds
in Brisbane met some months ago at the invitation of the Returned
Soldiers’ and Patriots’ National Political League, to establish a home
for returned soldiers who are cripples or nervous wrecks. Several
difficulties arose, however, in the starting of a complete new fund,
and the matter has since been taken up by the Red Cross Society. It has
been decided by the members to establish two homes for returned wounded
soldiers. One for advanced consumptives and the other for men who are
physically incapable of earning their living. The movement is as yet in
its infancy, but when the Red Cross Society have taken the matter in
hand there is every reason to have full confidence in the homes being
established. They will be of inestimable benefit to men made physical
wrecks through the horrors of war; and doubtless, it is only a matter
of bringing the fact before the public to receive support from all
parts of the community.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A Section of the Red Cross Kitchen in Brisbane, where
delicacies are made for Sick and Wounded Soldiers.]
Red Cross Kitchen.
UNTIRING WORK OF VOLUNTARY “COOKS.”
Day in and day out, for the last two years, the women of the Red
Cross Kitchen have served a tea to the inmates of the Kangaroo Point
Military Hospital. In addition, three times a week, an excellent menu
has been sent out to the camp hospitals, convalescent detail hospital,
Lytton, Rosemount, Wattlebrae, and extra supplies given to the Kangaroo
Point Hospital, while men at Goodna, the Diamantina, or wherever sick
soldiers are stationed, are regularly supplied with delicacies. It
needs no stretch of imagination to realise the work this entails. The
kitchen, which is situated opposite the Customs House, is a long room,
with stores on shelf above shelf on the right-hand side, while to the
left are the stoves, ice-chests, and other necessities for preparing
the supplies; all the fittings having been made by the men’s auxiliary,
who work in the basement.
The sight of the women, in their white uniforms and caps, working
busily every day and all day behind the large windows with the sign
of the Red Cross, has almost ceased to attract the attention of the
passerby, and yet there is a retinue of 70 helpers who carry out this
work consistently, each member having her regular hours and regular
days for assisting. And all the work is voluntary. Through the heat
of two summers and the varied weather of winter they have worked
untiringly peeling potatoes, cutting up salads, making scones and
cakes, and cooking tempting morsels for the sick and wounded men. In
addition, they have prepared and served the suppers at Kangaroo Point
for the returned soldiers on the night of their return.
The stores, vegetables and foodstuffs are supplied gratis by the
various branches of the Red Cross, men (particularly the men of the
markets) and women who are interested in the work so excellently
carried out, and school children who send in regular supplies of eggs,
milk and other foodstuffs. Some idea of the work done by the “cooks”
is realized by a visit to the kitchen during the day. There, scones
are being made, fruit salads cut up, potatoes peeled, and vegetables,
curries, poultry and puddings prepared. The rows of home-made jam are
the result of a day’s work, while again pickles and chutneys are also
stored ready for the use of the soldier. Sometimes 14 fowls will be
received from one well-wisher in the country. These must all be plucked
and dressed straight away, and are put in cold storage until required.
There is not an idle moment for the workers, and towards evening or at
mid-day the delicacies are packed and taken by the Red Cross Motor to
the various destinations. There are three gas stoves and two gas rings
in use, and many people who understand and appreciate the work have
added other conveniences for the cooking. The helpers are so particular
that the work should be entirely voluntary that they even pay for meals
served to them during the day. This work is carried out by about 30
girls, who serve the meals and do all the washing up. The kitchen has
been so widely recognised as an institution of essential value, that
the “cooks” are assisted by the military authorities, who provide two
soldiers every day to help with the heavy work. The soldiers, nurses
and doctors are full of gratitude to these Red Cross workers. And,
indeed, they have been untiring in their efforts, and unselfish with
both their time and their energy, to be of service to the soldiers.
[Illustration: Nurse Cavell.]
Circles and Guilds.
SUBURBAN AND CITY BRANCHES OF WORK.
It might be safely said that there is not a street in or around
Brisbane, in which there are not women working in one way or another
for the men in khaki. Leisure hours are given to sewing, knitting, or
arrangements for “days,” fétes and other entertainments whereby money
may be gathered in for the welfare of the soldiers in the trenches, in
the hospitals, on leave, or discharged from duty.
The working girls, no less than those of the leisure classes, have
given of their time and money, and it is no uncommon occurrence for
the employees of large drapery and other establishments to arrange
concerts, river picnics and entertainments to provide either the
furniture for a room in the Residential Club, or some other gift for a
patriotic cause.
Apart from the Red Cross Society, the Queensland Soldiers’ Comforts
Fund and other well-known patriotic centres, there are many circles and
guilds and individual women who work for or entertain the Queensland
soldier. Some idea of the work the women are doing is realized when it
is considered that, in the Red Cross alone, each of the 31 Brisbane
branches averages a membership of from 50 to 100 women. In addition to
the Societies formed entirely for patriotic work, there are at least 17
different sewing guilds attached to independent institutions.
Among these centres is the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institution, the
members of which make quantities of shirts and socks, their work being
particularly neat and well finished. The students of the Queensland
University, the Technical College, and the women of the Mutual Service
Club also make garments and knitted articles for the men, while the
girls of the Y.W.C.A. have given wonderful contributions considering
that the majority of their time is taken up with earning their living.
Not only have they become a sub-branch of the Red Cross Society, and
donated gifts regularly to the Queensland Soldiers’ Comforts Fund, but
they have given of their earnings as well. Each girl gives what she
can afford weekly, a penny, threepence, or whatever the sum may be,
and during the last year they collected over £60 for various patriotic
organisations.
The Church of England Soldiers’ Help Society have been working
energetically almost from the commencement of the war. It was the
members of this Society who organised and established the Anzac Club
in Charlotte-street, and this is by no means the only channel of their
work. Twice a week members go out to the camp and mend the soldiers’
clothes. They have a tent, and the Soldiers’ Hut (which is another
result of their efforts) where they receive damaged garments and
darn, patch and mend them ready for use again. A scheme to relieve
the anxiety of relatives of soldiers who are wounded has been of
inestimable comfort to many mothers and fathers in Queensland. The
Society keep in touch with a chaplain in England, who visits and issues
cards to the wounded men in hospitals in England. The men fill the
cards in, stating their wounds, their circumstances, name, etc., and
these are sent out to Queensland, and they are then distributed to the
relatives by the Society. In this way many parents have been able to
trace their sons, particularly boys who ran away from home to enlist,
and who have failed to keep in touch with their relatives.
Many women’s societies and clubs regularly entertain the men in
camp, organizing concerts, while the work of individual women in the
interests of soldiers has been beyond praise. Among other centres of
patriotic activity, the following churches, institutions and societies
also have energetic sewing guilds:--Queensland Women’s Electoral
League, Stephens’ Girls’ League, Mitson Haseldene Sewing Circle, Holy
Trinity Sewing Circle, Heralds of the King, The Spiritual Soldiers’
Aid, City Tabernacle, St. Peter’s Guild (West End), Salvation Army,
Nurses at Central Hospital, Vulture St. Baptist Church, and a 60 Sewing
Circle.
[Illustration]
A Spirit of Service.
Through the portals of modern times woman has met this great conflict
of nations warring with nations with a calm strength and patience. And
she has set up a shrine in the activities of her house--a shrine that
is a spirit of service to the soldier.
When peace first spread her wings to take flight across seas and
continents, she left woman standing on the brink of war with reluctant
and uncertain feet. No woman in any period of the world’s history ever
faced the colossal task that the women of 1914 faced three years ago.
Into the domestic trend of their lives came the shadows of battle and
strife and death, and they waved goodbye to their sons, brothers, and
lovers, with a vague feeling that they had gone forth to meet danger,
and it was for their country. Then came battle news and casualty lists,
and the doubting fears broke into grief and sorrow and daily anxiety,
from which emerged an unfathomable reverence for the man who will die
for his country.
It was then that the full significance of the soldier really dawned
on woman in general, and with characteristic femininity she sought
to express her reverence for these men in unbounded service to their
needs. Nor has that service diminished--rather has it increased.
No man will ever realise the feeling a woman has for the man who goes
forth to fight for his country, his womenfolk and the weak. Life is
such a precious thing. Women know this too well. So many of them have
lingered near the edges of that undiscovered country and known the joy
of regaining the shores of Life. So that when a man voluntarily risks
his life to defend all that is precious to him, he becomes almost a
demi-god in her mind. Her sons seem to have grown something almost too
precious. She exists in a daily imagery of their lives, and when they
fall in battle something of their great courage seems to be reflected
within her. She meets her loss with such a knowledge of the honor
of his death that she is fortified with a strange new armor. Girls
who grew up with their brothers, and looked on them just as their
“brothers,” are at times overwhelmed with the magnitude of what these
boys have done and are doing. And from a world of tennis, dances,
pleasures, and peace-time sorrows, they have traversed into the great
arena of service.
And what an arena it is! From the lowest to the highest rung on the
social ladder, from the tropic lands of the North to the wheat grown
fields of the Downs, from the out-back stations of the West to the
Pacific, women have arisen to do honour to the man in khaki. She who
must needs work to earn her daily bread spends her leisure moments
in knitting or sewing. She who has lived in the midst of household
duties and home cares, gives what hours she may spare--and often, what
she is unable to spare--to Red Cross activities, comforts for the men
in the trenches, or to practical work to augment the funds of some
particular patriotic institution. For these works are not temporary
works, they are institutions, institutions built on the foundations of
self-sacrifice, and they will outlive many a granite building in the
memory of future generations. The society woman--the butterfly--has
been one of the surprises of the war. Out of her chrysalis she has
come and put aside her life of luxury to do homage to this demi-god
in khaki. What matter whether he was her gardener or her lover
yesterday--he is a soldier to-day, and as such she will give him
homage.
[Illustration: Transporting Wounded Soldiers from Gallipoli.]
Mutual Service Club.
FOR RELATIVES OF MEN AT THE FRONT.
Any afternoon in the week, except Saturday and Sunday, between the
hours of two and five o’clock, the Mutual Service Club may be seen
in full working order on the top floor of Moon’s Building, Adelaide
Street. This club is for the relatives, particularly the wives and
children, of men at the front. There are two large rooms available
for the club, and they are always well patronised by the wives and
children of soldiers. Primarily it is a society of mutual service, and
the committee who organised and keep up the club endeavour to assist
wherever help is wanted. The women of Brisbane who have time and means
do not give their energy to the soldier alone, for they realise that in
helping his wife and children they are indirectly doing him invaluable
service.
The room is always a centre of interested women and happy children.
There are many diversions for the soldiers’ wives, and the children are
provided with toys and picture books. A Red Cross Circle provides one
interest, while once a week cooking or sewing demonstrations are given
and entertainments are arranged whenever possible.
Two members of the committee are on duty every day, and afternoon tea
and biscuits are provided for 2d. The subscriptions are 1s. a year for
club members, 2s. 6d. for committee members, and 5s. associate members,
the latter being practically annual donations for the upkeep of the
club, while the shilling subscription is given by the soldier’s wife
who wishes to obtain the privileges of the club.
The privileges are many, for wherever help is needed the Hon. Secretary
attends personally to the want. Professional men have been exceedingly
generous to members, and there are several doctors and chemists who
practically give their services free, while even legal advice is
tendered to those in need free of charge. The latter help is required
more often than the general public think, for there are many times
when a woman feels utterly at a loss in the tangles of the law. When
a soldier’s wife is confronted with legal or other difficulties, she
will always find assistance at the Mutual Service Club. Jumble sales
are also held, and quite a large sum has been made by the members from
a small stall at which remnants, supplied by the shops, are sold.
Proceeds from this stall purchased a clock for the camp hospital at
Enoggera last year, and the profits are always of use to the committee.
Sometimes money is advanced to women who are in needy circumstances,
and, indeed, whenever anyone is in distress, endeavors are made to
alleviate the trouble.
The club has been in existence for over two years, and the women who
initiated the step towards its establishment must feel exceedingly
gratified at the success achieved.