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
[Illustration: Belgium in Winter.
_Raemaeker._]
THE NEW FARM GIRLS’ CLUB.
The members of this club have presented two rowing boats and a complete
set of garden tools to the Kangaroo Point Military Hospital among other
gifts for patriotic needs. Their most successful venture was a concert
held in the South Brisbane Technical College in 1915, when £45 was
raised.
HAMILTON GIRLS’ CLUB.
The chief objects of this band of workers is to buy materials for
garments, which are forwarded to the Hamilton Red Cross and the
Queensland Comforts Fund, while wool is obtained for socks for the Sock
Fund. Other gifts have included linoleum for the billiard room at the
Kangaroo Point Military Hospital. The funds have been raised chiefly
through river trips, tennis parties and other entertainments, over £250
having been collected since June, 1915.
V.A.D.
The girls of the Voluntary Aid Detachment are easily recognised in
their navy blue coats with a Red Cross Badge on the arm. There are
two detachments in Brisbane, with a full complement of 24 girls in
each, the detachments being under the supervision of Commandants and
Quartermasters. Each girl qualifies for her position, and must hold
first aid and home nursing certificates, and produce them within
six months of joining. V.A.D. girls have taken up their work with a
determination. Not only do they receive a certain amount of training
in the civil hospitals, but they are drilled by a sergeant once a week
during the major part of the year, and they work under discipline
at regular stated times. Their most notable work in Brisbane is the
buffet at the Kangaroo Point Hospital, where morning tea, afternoon
tea and supper is provided for convalescent soldiers at a nominal
cost, the idea being to supply small extras apart from the rations
allowed by the military authorities. This branch of their work has been
highly successful. The small kitchen is the centre of V.A.D. cooks
and waitresses both day and night, while the restaurant between the
recreation hall and the kitchen is always full of returned convalescent
soldiers. A few months ago a number of soldiers approached the V.A.D.
authorities, and said that they thought the charges at the buffet were
too small. They felt it savoured of charity, but the V.A.D. would not
hear of raising the prices, and in proof of the absence of charity,
explained that in the first nine months they had made a profit of £150.
As is well known, two of the girls went home to England last year to
assist in the military hospitals, but one of the girls (Miss Lydia
Grant) became ill while on duty and died on April 1st of this year.
Two girls were recently accepted for duty in the Stanthorpe Military
Hospital, and have now taken up their duties as cook and wardsmaid,
while another member of the detachment has been appointed to the
position of cook in a military hospital in Egypt. A V.A.D. girl must be
prepared to work hard, and it speaks well for the Brisbane girls that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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