For the Sake of the Soldier: Voluntary Work of Brisbane WomenMacleod, Rita
History
For the Sake of the Soldier: Voluntary Work of Brisbane Women
Macleod, Rita
World War, 1914-1918 -- Medical care -- Australia; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Australia
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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