For the Sake of the Soldier: Voluntary Work of Brisbane Women

by Rita Macleod

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.

Toys made at the Kangaroo Point Military Hospital.

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.

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.

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.

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.