The Brisbane Girl. CHANNELS OF HER PATRIOTIC ENERGY.

The Brisbane girl of war time should make a splendid woman, for she is spending her youth in a heroic and self-sacrificing age. The silken tassel of her girlhood has been torn and all the treasure of her youth thrown into the arena of war service. The delights promised since childhood have been swept away in the great tide of war, and instead of idle pleasures occupying her leisure hours, it is war work on every side. And the war work has become more to her than any idle pleasures could ever have become. All soldiers have been her friends, and she has worked with enthusiasm for them for the last three years.

At first her war work was a game, but as the seriousness of war dawned on her she settled down to solid, earnest work in the interests of the man in khaki. The business girl gives what time she can spare, the girl of leisure has in many cases given up her freedom. In the Red Cross Kitchen or the V.A.D. she will cook and serve for the Red Cross or Comforts Funds. She will sew and knit, or, again, she will devote hours to organising and taking part in entertainments, clubs, fêtes, or other channels for raising money to swell some particular fund. No task is too menial or too big for her in her endeavours to do “her bit” for the soldiers.

THE BRISBANE GIRLS’ CLUB.

This was one of the first girls’ organisations for war work on a big scale. Among their chief activities have been the providing of Christmas and Easter Dinners to the men in camp, the purchasing of a billiard table, a pianola and a piano for the White City, and the supplying of pies to men on military duty two nights weekly. The members have been successful in collecting over £1,900 since the inception of the club, and £139 4s. 8d. of that sum was raised on behalf of the Citizens’ Queen’s Carnival in aid of the Residential Club. Other efforts include the presentation of flags, while the conducting of the Comforts Funds of the 41st and 42nd Battalions is included in the regular work of the club.

THE TOOWONG GIRLS’ CLUB.

This club has raised considerable sums through garden parties, concerts and the selling of cakes and flowers, the result of their efforts being divided between various patriotic organisations. The distributions have included the presentation of side drums to various Companies, and furniture for the sitting room at the Kangaroo Point Military Hospital. The club also keeps a bed in up-to-date order in the same hospital.

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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 there are so many enthusiasts attached to the movement.

Y.W.C.A.

The patriotic workers of the Y.W.C.A. are nearly all business girls, so that any time or money given is particularly self-sacrificing. There are two patriotic committees in the association. The War Relief Committee, which is a sub-committee of the North Ward Branch of the Red Cross, and the Soldiers’ Comforts Club, which assists the Queensland Soldiers’ Comforts Fund. There are a large number of members to each committee, and the donations consist of both goods and money.

OTHER GIRLS’ EFFORTS.

It would be difficult to find a club, society, or band of girls at present in Brisbane, who are not assisting to swell patriotic funds in one way or another. Some have had more notable results than others, but all are absolutely giving of their best. A band of girls under the supervision of a patriotic worker, have collected considerable sums for the Wattle Day League, enabling that body to hand over sufficient money to the Red Cross, in 1915, to erect the recreation hall at Kangaroo Point Hospital, in addition to giving substantial sums to other funds. Last year they collected nearly £800 for the League, the sum being handed over to the War Council to obtain Caines’ artificial limbs for maimed returned soldiers. They had a notable success for France last month (July), and are working for another collection day later in the year when it is proposed to devote the proceeds to the benefit of Queensland soldiers. This is the result of the efforts of one band of girls, while practically all the girls’ schools in and around Brisbane send in garments and socks to one or other of the movements to assist the soldiers. Nor must the energetic work of the amateur operatic societies be forgotten. Many of the members of the Brisbane Amateur Operatic Society and the Brisbane Amateur Operatic Players are girls who have contributed to patriotic funds through their individual efforts. Girls are also continually arranging private concerts and entertainments, the proceeds of which are devoted to the cause of the soldier. One teacher of elocution has toured the country with a small company at intervals during the last three years and has succeeded in raising over £2,000 for patriotic funds. Early in the year, the Red Triangle appeals resulted in exceptional sums being raised, and girls in all parts of Queensland were untiring in their efforts to collect money or arrange entertainments for the Y.M.C.A. Huts. The Brisbane girl is not afraid to work for the soldier; rather is it her pride to exert in his interests what energy she may possess.

Afternoon Tea—from the V.A.D. Buffet, at the Kangaroo Point Hospital.

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