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From Cables to Commemoration:

THE GOLD COAST HOME FRONT 1914 –1918

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Cover image:Group of people at Mudgeeraba Railway Station, circa June 1917. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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CONTENTS

Introduction 5

Recruitment and training 8

The Southport Cable Station and the Pacific Cable 23

Life at home during the war 26

Repatriation and convalescence at home 34

An unquiet peace 41

End notes 60

Acknowledgements 67

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Peace Day marching band with soldiers and nurses looking on, Mudgeeraba, circa 1919. Image courtesy of Jack Rudd.

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Introduction

This booklet and accompanying exhibition, titled From Cables to Commemoration: the Gold Coast home front 1914 – 1918, explores the effect of World War I on the Gold Coast. World War I, also known as the Great War, had a profound impact on all of Australia, and while there are many national stories about the war, there are also those particular to individual communities. From Cables to Commemoration: the Gold Coast home front 1914 – 1918 looks at some of the key themes and stories which emerged from this tumultuous part of the city’s history.

On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Serbian separatists while being conveyed in their open car through the streets of Sarajevo. No-one that day could have foreseen that the event would precipitate World War I. Political tensions had been building in Europe ever since 27 German kingdoms, principalities and other small states unified in 1871 into the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I. This new German state was highly industrialised and

had ambitions for expanding its territory and power. It allied with the old Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1879, built up its military and naval might, and began acquiring colonies in Africa, China and the Pacific. Under Wilhelm’s grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany became increasingly aggressive, and this inevitably led to conflict with the other great global power of the day, the British Empire. Ferdinand’s assassination sparked a diplomatic crisis that triggered a major conflict between these superpowers and their respective allies.

World War I commenced on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The scale of this war was unprecedented, and involved all the major European powers, as well as the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Japan and eventually the United States of America. More than 70 million military personnel were mobilised and over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war.1 As a loyal member of the British Empire, Australia was swept into the conflict. Indeed, proportionally Australia was to commit, and lose, more young men than any other Commonwealth country. Between 1914 and 1918 the Australian population stood at approximately 4.9 million, and a total of around 420,000 people enlisted for service, representing 38.7 per cent of the male population aged between 18 and 44.2 Of those who enlisted, it has been estimated that more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 were wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.3 No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact, and across the nation communities large and small struggled to deal with the war and its after effects.

Among those communities was Queensland’s Gold Coast, then known as the South Coast. In this period it was a lightly settled, relatively prosperous rural district which had grown on the back of timber-getting,

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Soldiers and residents on the platform of West Burleigh Railway Station, Queensland, circa 1916, Marriott family, photographer. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Letter to Mr D. Denham, Premier of Queensland from Lieutenant-Governor of Queensland, Arthur Morgan relaying the telegraphic message from the Governor General of Australia about war breaking out between Great Britain and Germany, 5 August 1914. Queensland State Archives Item ID2120791, Batch file.

sugarcane, dairying and mixed farming. The South Coast Railway, completed in 1903, linked a number of principal hinterland centres (Nerang, Beenleigh and Mudgeeraba), coastal towns (Southport, Coolangatta, Burleigh Heads and Currumbin), as well as various smaller villages and farms, to Brisbane and the New South Wales border. While the railway had been built primarily to boost rural production, it also brought in tourists. The region’s main drawcard were its beaches which were becoming popular holiday destinations for Brisbane people as well as farming and coal mining families living out west in the Ipswich and Darling Downs areas. During the years of World War 1, the railway served to transport enlisted men from the South Coast area to recruitment centres in Brisbane, predominantly at Enoggera Barracks. The railway also carried sick and injured men back to their families or to convalescent facilities which had been established on the coast.

The Gold Coast also played a crucial role in telegraphic communications with the Southport Cable Station sending and receiving messages for the Commonwealth. The war stirred up issues not previously encountered in the local community, including ostracism of the German community – a group which had played a crucial role in the development of the district since non-Indigenous settlement began. It removed many young men and women from their families and livelihoods, some never returning. It also brought a growing desire within the community to both commemorate those who served in the war and to avoid future conflicts. With the end of the war came the terrible 1918 – 19 global influenza pandemic which had a particularly local impact; the closure of the Queensland/New South Wales border and the growth of Coolangatta as a township.

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Recruitment and training When war was declared, Australia did not have the large, full-time, professionally trained defence force it does today. It had vast spaces to defend, a small population and an economic depression resulting from a series of droughts in the 1890s and early 1900s. Australia could not afford more than a small regular army supported by a large contingent of volunteers. During peacetime the vast majority of soldiers were in reserve units of the Citizens Military Force (also known as the CMF or Militia). When needed Australian Imperial Forces were formed, drawing on the CMF and the broader population, to serve overseas.4 The Defence Act 1884 provided for the establishment of rifle clubs for the CMF to encourage rifle shooting throughout the colony and as such, rifle clubs became important for the defence of Australia. They were seen to be a reserve of manpower that could be called upon should any invasion occur. Rifle clubs were so important that the Commonwealth supported the movement through the provision of land for rifle ranges, training staff, rifles, ammunition and targets. At the time of the outbreak of war there were a number of local rifle clubs operating in the South Coast region including the Nerang Rifle

Club (established 1891), the Ormeau-Pimpama Rifle Club (established 1901), the Logan and Albert District Rifle Club (established 1907), the Alberton Rifle Club (established 1909) and the Coolangatta Rifle Club (established 1913).

The Southport Drill Hall, established in 1890, was also part of the Commonwealth commitment to developing the citizen military units. Designed purely for military purposes the function of the Drill Hall was to maximise the safety and efficiency of personnel and their work and to provide training facilities for the citizen forces. Drill Halls were designed to a standard plan and were erected at strategic points throughout the country including locations near harbours and rivers. These areas were deemed to require protection, particularly as they might have afforded access to enemy warships. The South Passage at Southport was selected as an important site for defence, along with protection of the river traffic between Southport and Brisbane.

From 1891 to 1901 the Drill Hall was used by Colonel William Larther who was Officer-in-Charge of the Moreton Regiment of the Queensland Defence Force.

View of Southport Recreation Reserve showing the Southport Drill Hall (building with curved roof), 1898. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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At the time, the purpose of the Regiment’s location was to protect the overland telegraph line from Brisbane to Southport. In 1901, the permanent staff, volunteers and militia associated with the Southport Drill Hall were absorbed into the Commonwealth Defence Force and the Drill Hall was handed over to the Commonwealth. During World War 1, the drill hall was used by the Commonwealth Defence Force for military training purposes, including training of the Volunteer Defence Corps. A contingent from the Commonwealth Defence Force based at Southport also guarded the Pacific Cable Station at Southport during war time.

The CMF model remained in place until 1947 by which time the Australian Army had fought in three major wars: the Second Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa, World War I (1914–18), and World War II (1939–45). The model had been inspired by the Australian experience of the Second Boer War in South Africa, where the army faced a highly mobile foe conducting a campaign of guerrilla warfare under conditions similar to those back home – large spaces, low population and little money.5 A standing regular army was then formed and the

CMF (known as the Army Reserve after 1980) began to decline in importance.

The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main overseas, or expeditionary, force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed on 15 August 1914, initially consisting of one infantry division and one light horse brigade.6 The infantry division subsequently fought at Gallipoli between April and December 1915. The AIF was then expanded to five infantry divisions and three light horse brigades by the time fighting began in France and Belgium along the Western Front in March 1916. The 1st AIF also included the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) which operated in the United Kingdom on the Western Front and the Middle East. The AFC eventually became the Royal Australian Air Force, while the rest of the 1st AIF was disbanded between 1919 and 1921.

By the end of the war the AIF had gained the reputation of being a well-trained and devastatingly effective military force, playing a significant role in the eventual Allied victory.7 Its soldiers, who became known as ‘Diggers’, were considered among the best fighters and became central to the national Anzac legend. However,

Mudgeeraba Volunteer Defence Corps parade in Southport Showgrounds, circa 1914. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Alberton Rifle Club, circa 1913. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Members of the Coomera District Rifle Club, c. 1910.

Image courtesy of City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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this reputation came at a steep price with a casualty rate among the highest of any army in the war. It also masked a complex set of tensions and fractures around the process of creating this force.

In the early years of the war there was great enthusiasm for enlistment, which was accompanied by considerable pomp, fanfare and national pride. Regional newspapers reported enlistment successes as achievements to be celebrated. When Miss E.M. Greer, a Southport resident, was accepted into the military as a trained nurse it was noted in the Brisbane Courier and special mention was made of the considerable experience she had gained in the Manchu Revolution of 1913.8 The Southport School also took pride in their enlistment numbers. The Brisbane Courier of December 1917 reported that the schools honour role showed 250 enlistments and the report was accompanied by an analysis which indicated that 75 per cent of the eligible old boys of the school had enlisted.9 Colourful recruitment drives extolling the greatness of the British Empire and the need to defend the motherland (Great Britain) drew in large numbers of men from towns and rural areas to the enlistment centres. The motivations for these men varied from a desire to do their duty, seek travel and adventure, follow family members and mates, to obtaining status and regular employment. A small number also enlisted to avoid paternity suits or criminal charges.

Initially the standards for enlistment for men were quite high and rigorously enforced by examining officers. In August 1914 men had to be 19–38 years of age, with a minimum height of 5ft 6in (168 cm) and chest measurement of 34 inches (86 cm).10 They also had to be physically fit and have good teeth and eyesight.

Barriers to enlistment were set along racial and ethnic lines. Germans were excluded, as well as anyone who was not of European background. The war occurred during the height of the White Australia

Certificate of Medical Examination for Mudgeeraba man Hugh Fulton, one of six brothers who volunteered for service, showing he met the height requirements for service in 1914. National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455 Fulton, H.

Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Wednesday 23 December 1914, page 8

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20004027

WHY SHOULD I

FIGHT ?*> ?' '?

TO THE EDITOR.Sir,-Becausu 1 am young, strong, and

unmarried many people ure asking whyI r,in not helping in tho defence of theEmpire \V,hat do they expect of mo ? Iread the "Courier" e\ery morning, andwhen the British and their Allies do wellI um amongst tho first to glory in theirdeeds of valour, and I sing "Rule,Britannia," "It's a Long Way to Tiplerurj," and "Sons of tho Sea" in ap-preciation of their victories Commonbasings of minc aro "Wero giving iheGermans all they want," and 'We 11bhow them how to tight," and "The GerniDUs won't tako us on again

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1 aluajs emphasise tho "Wo" and "Us "

burel«, thebe unreasonable minded peopledon't think I should volunteer for o'liveeervicc abroad Why should I when Ibaie a nice snug billet and can live incomfort and enjoy mvsclf out of -each ofbhot and shell ? Australia is not likelyto he attacked so long as the BritishNavy keeps afloat, and it is no concernof mine that bravo men arc lobing theirlives defending the Empire, of whichAubtralia is a part M5 mother andbisterb will not havo to undergo thetrialb and sufferings of the Belgianwomen and children until theso travomen are wiped out, and not even then ii

my joung brother and the other traineescan prevent it My brother was a sillylittle ass to be born in 1894, for as aresult ho has to spend his Christmasholidays in uniform, under active senrtcoconditions, assisting in the protection ofour bridges, water supply, cable station,and macazines, whilst I, who was bornfour j cars earlier, am oft to tho seasidefor a joll> good time , and if you wouldcare to know who I am just make avisit to tho Tweed, Southport, Redcliffe,and other seaside resorts, when you willspot mc in my bathing togs parading thebeach or displaying my athletic abilitiesin the sea By tho wa«, Mr Editor,there is no fear of any of these placesbeing bombarded, is there ? I read oftowns on tho English coast having beenshelled by the Germans, and if I thoughtthere was any likelihood of such a thing

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“My brother was a silly little ass to be born in 1894, for as a result he has to spend his Christmas holidays in uniform, under active service con-ditions, assisting in the protection of our bridges, water supply, cable station and magazines, whilst I, who was born four years earlier, am off to the seaside for a jolly good time; and if you would care to know who I am just make a visit to the Tweed, Southport, Redcliff, and other seaside resorts when you will spot me in my bathing togs parading the beach…”

“Why Should I Fight?” Article from the Brisbane Courier,1914.12

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Policy, which was the Federal Government’s strategy to exclude all non-whites from participating in the country’s development. Consequently many people of Indigenous, Chinese, Japanese and other non-European heritage were denied the right to defend their communities. They were only able to serve if deemed to be of substantial European descent and largely white in appearance. During the first year of the war approximately 33 percent of all volunteers were rejected on health, bad character or racial grounds.11

As the war progressed, the mounting casualty rates and stories of horror from the war led to lagging enlistment rates. After 7,600 Australians were killed at Gallipoli, and 50,000 perished at the European Western Front, naïve enthusiasm for the war was steadily replaced by heartbreak, questioning and cynicism.

In the face of declining recruitment, standards for enlistment were relaxed. By June 1915 the age range and minimum height requirements were altered to 18 - 45 years and 5ft 2in (157 cm) respectively, with the minimum height being lowered again to 5ft (152 cm) in April 1917.13 Ethnic barriers were also relaxed, with people of stronger non-European backgrounds being admitted.14 These changes allowed previously ineligible men to enlist, and a number of historians have highlighted the proportionally significant role played by Indigenous, Chinese-Australian and other non-Europeans in the AIF.15 For example, a conservative estimate of 1000 Indigenous Australians fought for the British Empire in World War I. At the outbreak of the war in 1914 it is estimated that there were less than 1000 Chinese Australian men of fighting age in Australia, and of these about 198 managed to enlist.16

Another measure considered for boosting recruitment was compulsory military service, or conscription. The Military Service Referendum Act 1916 and the War Precautions (Military Service Referendum) Regulations 1917 were both contentious attempts by the Federal Labor government of Prime Minister William (Billy) Hughes to introduce compulsory war service. The ensuing public debates during the referendums divided Australian society on religious and political grounds. The Queensland Government also adopted an anti-conscription stance and went to the extent of guarding the Government Printing Office with armed police to prevent the Commonwealth Government censoring anti-conscription material. The Federal Labor party itself was divided by the issue, with Hughes’ faction splitting away and merging with the Liberal Party to form the Nationalist Party. Local government also responded. Prior to the first conscription vote the Southport Shire Council convened a public meeting to discuss the referendum proposal.17 The conscription debates polarised the Gold Coast as it did elsewhere. At the 1916 Southport Show, strong speeches in favour of conscription were heard and the local counter argument culminated in the formation of the Southport Anti-Conscription League in 1917. Its primary role was to contribute money to the state-wide Anti-Conscription Fighting Fund.18 Later, Southport voted 1005 yes to 647 no in favour of conscription19 although the Queensland total was an overwhelming vote of no to conscription.

The campaigns for and against conscription particularly targeted the emotions and loyalties of women, who voted in unprecedented numbers on the issue. In the end both attempts to introduce conscription were defeated. In light of the failed referendum, recruiting committees, in particular women’s recruiting committees, established branches across Queensland.

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Military portrait of Alexander Laver in uniform, First World War, circa 1915. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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The Southport Women’s Recruiting Committee regularly held meetings and rallies where patriotic films were screened and appeals for new recruits were made. Ultimately, Queensland contributed 57,705 enlistees.

Gold Coast recruits consisted of a mix of men and women from farms and towns with varying levels of education and resources. Some, like Alexander Laver, son of prominent Mudgeeraba pioneers William and Margaret Laver, was a farmer and possessed the riding skills and financial means of joining the Light Horse. Alexander enlisted when he was almost 24 years old. The members of the Light Horse obtained higher pay than the infantry but also had to supply and feed their own horses until the horse was deemed suitable for military purposes and had passed a medical examination conducted by a veterinary officer.20

Red Cross volunteers and returned servicemen, Mudgeeraba, 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Example of a recruitment poster.

State Records of South Australia GR32/16/43 World War 1 recruitment and war effort posters - State War Council.

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Dear Bill

Just a PC to let you know that I have not forgotten you. I have (sic) going to write to you several times but really we have not much time to write here. It has been raining here this last day or so. A lot of our company are isolated on account of mumps. I am going to play in a cricket match against a Melbourne team selected by H Prumble. I suppose it will be a days leather hunting. I will write you a letter at first opportunity.

Kindest regards Larry Healy”

Handmade postcard sent to Bill Rudd, Mudgeeraba from new recruit Larry Healy of Nerang who was training at Seymour Camp, Victoria in 1917. Seymour Camp, situated 105 kilometres from Melbourne, was established as a major army base for training infantry battalions and the famous Light Horse Regiments. Postcard courtesy of Jack Rudd.

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Dear Mrs Rudd

As I have not received any reply to my last letter about a month ago when I sent you my photo I have concluded that your letter must have gone astray and am just dropping you a PC to make sure. I have had several letters sent to me here that I have not received the mail system here being anyhow (sic). We have not sailed yet but expect to go anytime now. About 2000 sailed last week. I will write a letter as soon as I can at present I am awfully busy. Hoping to hear from you before I leave.

Yours sincerely Larry Healy”

Postcard from Larry Healy sent to Mrs Rudd, 14 May 1917. Postcard courtesy of Jack Rudd.

Others, like Larry Healy, enlisted as ground infantry. Larry, a saddler from Nerang, enlisted in December 1916. At 5ft 5in (165 cm) tall and requiring extensive dental treatment21, Larry was probably accepted for enlistment due to the relaxed recruitment entry standards that had been implemented in the face of declining enlistment.

Mrs Ada Rudd, part of the local Red Cross organisation, wrote to Larry and a number of postcards he sent to her survive. They are a small glimpse of the period Larry spent in training at Seymour Camp, Victoria in 1917.

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Composite photo of the Fulton brothers in military uniforms, circa 1919. Clockwise from the top John Fulton, Thomas Fulton, Alexander Douglas Fulton, George Fulton centre; Hugh Fulton and William Cowan Fulton. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Some families saw their entire younger generation enlist or volunteer for service in the armed forces. The Millen family were based at ‘Sunnyvale’, Mudgeeraba, and in Southport. The family consisted of George Whitfield Millen and his wife, Sarah Jane (nee Anderson), and their five children: William James, George Edward, Robert John, Margaret Mary and Agnes Hay.22 All the children contributed to the war effort, with the sisters volunteering for local nursing services and all three boys enlisting in the armed forces.

William James Millen was 22 when he enlisted in November 1915. His brother, George Edward, was 19 when he enlisted in the AIF in 1915. The youngest brother, Robert John, was 18 years old when he enlisted in February 1916.

Left to right: George Edward Millen, William James Millen and Robert John Millen. Images courtesy of Jack Rudd.

Agnes and Margaret Millen. Image courtesy of Gold Coast & Hinterland Historical Museum.

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Women who desired to enlist were accepted in relatively small numbers as military nurses or, after prolonged lobbying by the Red Cross, as members of the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs), working both in overseas hospitals and those in Australia. The VADs mostly consisted of women who were trained in first-aid and home nursing.23 They were not formally trained nurses and worked more as orderlies providing domestic and quasi-nursing duties in hospitals and convalescent homes.

There were limited places in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). Some women who were unsuccessful with the ANNS travelled to England to join Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve (QAIMNSR) which provided nursing services for British Army hospitals.24 Others joined privately funded nursing groups. Nurses of the AANS had to make their own uniforms, drawing from a uniform allowance, and so were free to tailor theirs to their own needs and tastes. As a result there was a huge variety in nursing uniforms during this period as there was no regulated standard or central source of manufacture. The VADs also experimented with their uniforms, sometimes in reaction to institutional pressure to distinguish themselves from the qualified nurses.

Among the nurses who worked overseas was Sister Linda Gertrude Andrews. Born in 1893, she was the daughter of George and Ellen Andrews, of ‘Bushleigh’,25 Southport. Sister Andrews was working as a nurse at the Brisbane General Hospital in 1916, but was soon motivated to join the war effort. At the age of 33, she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service and enlisted in the AIF in Brisbane on 2 June 1917.26 On 9th June 1917 she left Sydney on the transport ship, RMS

Portrait of Linda Gertrude Andrews in her nursing uniform, 1917. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Ladies of the local Red Cross organisation with soldiers. Ada Rudd is 4th from the left. Image courtesy of Jack Rudd.

Ladies of the local Red Cross organisation. Image courtesy of Jack Rudd.

Mooltan, as part of a contingent of 300 army nurses. They arrived at Port Suez on the 19 July 1917 and journeyed by train to Cairo and then on to Alexandria before travelling by ship to Salonika, Greece. There she joined nursing staff of the 60th British General Hospital, which was attached to the British Salonika Force, where she spent most of her war service. Apart from taking one week of leave in the UK in December 1918, Sister Andrews faced very challenging conditions during her time in service. The nurses at Salonika worked mainly in tent hospitals, enduring extreme summer heat and winter cold, shortages of water, mosquitoes and malaria, and tending large wards of mostly non-English speakers.27 Like so many service personnel, Sister

Andrews contracted influenza, and was sick for a month in October 2018 before returning to duty. As the war began to wind down, nursing staff numbers began to be reduced and Sister Andrews returned to Australia on 17th August, 1919. She continued her nursing career at the Rosemount Military Hospital in Windsor, Brisbane, as matron of the Ipswich Baby Clinic and in Townsville.28 After the death of her mother in 1928, she remained close to and nursed her father in Southport until his death in 1930.29

The nurses and VADs who worked locally included Ada Rudd of Mudgeeraba, who was involved with the local Red Cross organisation.

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Pacific Cable Board network map, 1903. Johnson, George. The All red line : the annals and aims of the Pacific cable project / edited by George Johnson J. Hope Ottawa 1903.

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In 1902, at a cost of 2 million pounds, the Pacific Cable linking Australia to Canada and Great Britain was completed. While there were other undersea cables for communication, construction of the Pacific Cable was seen to be an important step for the security of the British Empire during a time of military build-up in Germany. The cable was a huge engineering feat for its time, and as cartographers of the day traditionally coloured British Empire member countries in red, the route became known as the All Red Route or All Red Line. The cable route linked Southport, Norfolk Island, Fiji, Fanning Island, Vancouver and London with a branch connected to New Zealand.

The cable arrived on the Gold Coast at Main Beach on the ship Anglia in 1902. Preparations for the cable landing included the establishment of a temporary cable office on the corner of Heath Street and Brighton Parade in Southport, construction of a small cable hut on the beach and a deep trench for the cable through the dunes of Narrowneck.30 The cable crossed the Nerang River between the cable hut and the temporary office.

Later, the permanent Pacific Cable Station was established in Bauer Street, Southport and the cable was connected there. The cable station consisted of three buildings constructed in the Queensland vernacular style of weather board with corrugated iron roofing. They were slightly elevated with wrap around verandahs and ventilated gabled roofs. Until 1912, Southport was the receiving station for all international messages into Australia and played a crucial role in communication throughout the British Empire.

Laying the Pacific Cable at Main Beach, 1902. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

The Southport Cable Station and the Pacific Cable

In 1912, a cable from Auckland was extended to Sydney and for a period after this, traffic for the southern States went directly to Sydney from Auckland. Southport continued to play a crucial role in relaying telegraph traffic into Queensland though, including official messages relating to World War 1 from Melbourne, which was the official seat of the federal

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Extract from Moreton district map showing the Pacific Cable (noted as submarine cable on map) coming in to Southport.

Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government, 2 mile AG1 series 1906 – 1915 — Moreton district API, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution sourced on 13 October 2016.

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Cable Station Guards having tea, Southport, circa 1914. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Pacific Cable Station, Bauer Street, Southport, circa 1918. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Telegram to the Premier of Queensland from Joseph Cook, Prime Minister of Australia, advising that official information had been received that war has broken out with Germany, 5 August 1914.

Queensland State Archives, Digital Item ID 26715.

government at the time. During World War I security of the Southport Cable Station was paramount. Mr Ralph Johnston was the Officer-in-Charge of the Cable Station during this time. He was a local pioneer, well respected Southport citizen and Chairman of the local Johnston and Freeman milling firm. In 1885 he joined the Moreton Regiment and served as Captain in “G” Company, receiving the Queen Victoria medal in 1905 for long service.31 His military skills were honed in local rifle clubs including the Southport Rifle Club and he was a life member, patron and for many years president of the Logan and Albert District Rifle Clubs Union. A contingent of soldiers from the Southport Drill Hall based Commonwealth Defence Force was tasked with guarding the Pacific Cable Station at Southport during World War 1. Despite its great cost the telegraph network succeeded in its purpose; British communications remained uninterrupted during the First World War.

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Life at home during the war As a mostly rural district, the Gold Coast was able to contribute to the war effort through rural production. Its main products of timber, dairy, sugar and other foodstuffs were all needed to support both the home front and the imperial forces. Great Britain relied heavily on its empire for raw materials and foodstuffs, with British troops surviving on rations of tinned meat and vegetable stew known as Maconochie, tinned corned beef (bully beef), hard army biscuits made by Huntley & Palmers, cheese, tea, jam, sugar, salt, rum and condensed milk.32 Like their British counterparts, Australian troops had a similar diet which included bully beef, rice, jam, cocoa, tea, some bread and above all hard tack, also known as “Anzac Wafer”, or “Anzac Tile”33. These were made by Arnott’s and could last a very long time. Although the civilian populations of Europe and Great Britain suffered food shortages and food rationing, this was not so evident in Australia where most people still undertook some backyard vegetable growing and livestock keeping. However supporting the war and the national population were tested during the early years of the war due to droughts from 1911-16 which affected large parts of the country, including the Gold Coast.

Other forms of support for troops came from the YMCA, Red Cross and Australian Comfort Funds which were the three official charitable organisations allowed to accompany the troops overseas. The Australian Red Cross primarily cared for the sick and wounded; the Australian Comforts Fund offered morale building gifts and articles of clothing like socks; and the YMCA organised social and recreational material such as books and games.34

The Australian Red Cross was formed nine days after the declaration of war, and as historian Brian Rough notes:

From initial knitting circles, the scope of Red Cross support expanded rapidly to include teaching handcrafts to convalescent soldiers, mending hospital clothes and providing food and other necessary supplies to local and overseas military hospitals. So strong was the mobilisation of Red Cross ‘kitchen ladies’ that in addition to providing food for the Rosemount, Kangaroo Point and Lytton military hospitals, they were also able to supplement food to asylums, orphanages, and public hospitals.” 35

The Red Cross also formed the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs). VAD members worked mainly as orderlies carrying out domestic duties such as cleaning and helping with patient care. They were not employed in military hospitals, except as ward and pantry maids; rather, they worked in Red Cross convalescent and rest homes, canteens, and on troop trains.36 The VAD proved to be an invaluable resource on the Gold Coast.

To raise funds and provide comforts for the three official aid organisations, a seemingly infinite number of local, state and national schemes arose. These included National Council of Women (which comprised 41 other societies), the Queensland Soldier’s Comfort Fund, the Babies of the Allies Clothing Society, the Women’s Mutual Service Club, the Soldier’s Pastime Club, the Queensland Patriotic Fund and the Christmas Box Fund.37 Local organisations, like the Southport Sock and Comfort Fund and the Mudgeeraba Patriotic Fund,

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Ladies of the Red Cross, Mudgeeraba, circa 1917. Image courtesy of Jack Rudd.

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Stanthorpe and Innisfail.42 Money and goods were pledged by organisations as well as individuals, with the South Coast Dairy Co., for example, being a particularly active contributor to the Red Cross Kitchen for home hospitals.43 Typical charity events included gift sales, balls and concerts, such as the Southport School of Arts concert held in 1918 in aid of the Comforts Fund.44 The Southport School of Arts was also where the Southport Show was held, and during the war the proceeds were donated by the Show Society to the Red Cross and the Southport Military Hospital.45

The importance of this charity work, as well as the letters and postcards between families at home and men and women serving, cannot be overstated. The AIF soldiers were not as well-equipped or supported as Australian soldiers today, and they faced abysmal conditions at the warfronts in Europe and the Middle East. They needed every bit of assistance from the Australian community, however modest. A glimpse into those conditions, and the significance of regular parcels and letters, is given by an extract from a letter to Miss Maude Burrows, of Tweed Street, Southport, from her brother, Corporal J.R. Burrows, who was in France:

were branches of state-wide or national schemes.39 The Courier Mail newspaper also ran its own comfort fund and the Mudgeeraba Patriotic Fund, established in September 1914, contributed regularly.

Collectively these funds covered all aspects of the war crisis, including supporting wounded soldiers, funding of motor ambulances, nurses, travelling kitchens, bands, aeroplanes, and giving aid to the war-torn populations of Europe.40

The social and economic value of such voluntary work was considerable, and the Gold Coast was an active contributor. Some of the initiatives were specifically driven by men, such as the Tallebudgera Mens’ Auxilliary, Tallebudgera and District Men’s Help Circle and the Tallebudgera branch of the Oddfellows.41 However it was in voluntary organisations that women made their most significant contributions to the war effort nationally and locally, for they played a critical role as organisers and donors. In 1917, for instance, the women of Tallebudgera were noted as contributing goods to the Queensland Soldiers’ Comfort Fund as well as helping with street collection for funds for erecting Schools of Arts or libraries at the soldier settlements at Beerburrum,

Article in the Brisbane Courier regarding the establishement of the Mudgeeraba Patriotic Fund, 1914.38

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Corporal J.R. Burrows Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

It is some time since I wrote to you, but I really haven't had the chance. I have received several letters from you, and I cannot tell you how pleased I am to know that you are receiving my letters. We have done some moving about the last two months. Just now I have a cold; it is a common thing this weather. One has to be careful not to get frost bite. I watch my feet pretty closely. We were lucky enough to get some socks from the comforts fund. They are things we need. It is almost impossible to keep dry feet, and as we move so much one cannot carry a good supply of socks. I am doing pretty well at present. We have had one fall of snow, and there is plenty of ice about. It was a funny experience walking on the frozen mud first time, but now we are used to it. We were in the line for a time, and then out about 10 days. We have been in again, and are now out again for a few days. The weather here is very much up against us. The mud is so deep that it is impossible to get the transport through. Pack horses have to be utilised. The work is hard on the horses and soon knocks them out. I saw one bogged; he had been dead some time. It was almost out of sight so you can understand how deep the mud is. The ground is ploughed up so much with the heavy shelling and with the continual rain that it soon becomes a bog. It is fun to see a man get bogged. I have experienced myself; I didn’t feel pleased about it. In fact, I said hard things about the mud, of course, that’s what we enlist for. Although in Australia we have no idea of what it is like here.”46

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FranceApril 21st 1917A card to let you know that I’m quite alright up to the present. And so far have managed to dodge Fritz. I am just beginning to feel well again after the winter hope to goodness we’re not to put another one in here and reckon that I’ll not be able to stick it if we do. Things going great guns here at present, Geof (sic) and Fritz is getting particular hell and there is a lot worse in store for him as soon as the weather takes up and we can get things going again. The boys are all in great heart now that there (sic) getting a bit of their own back. I could fill a writing pad with very interesting news but worse luck we are allowed to say next to nothing from here so I’ll have to say ta for the present and with kind regards to Mrs Rudd and Billy. I’ll remain yours obediently J. Cole”

Another example of letters home. Easter postcard to Geoff Rudd from J. Cole, April 1917. Postcard courtesy of Jack Rudd.

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Local German settlersBy the beginning of the 20th century, with an estimated population of around 100,000, people of German background comprised Australia’s largest non-British immigrant group.47 The main centres of German settlement were South Australia, where they pioneered that state’s famous wine regions, and Southeast Queensland, where they were instrumental in growing sugarcane and developing mixed farming. The Southeast Queensland German community emerged in the 1860s through the efforts of the Reverend John Dunmore Lang, the German missionary Pastor J.G. Haussman and the immigration agent John Heussler, who organised the mass migration of German families.48 These families settled along the Albert and Logan Rivers, and as far west as Fassifern and Marburg. Early German immigrants were notable for their high level of social cohesion and mutual support, settling in family groups held together by strong religious, social and cultural ties. Drawing on these bonds, they soon displayed an ability to prosper on small land holdings and under adverse conditions, and inserted themselves into the local economy mostly as small-scale farmers.49 On the whole they integrated well with their Anglo-Irish neighbours, while also keeping a distinct cultural identity through the maintenance of German social clubs, the German language and Lutheran churches.

In the Gold Coast region, relations between the German and Anglo-Irish settlers appear to have been largely amicable, with intermarriage and cooperation occurring,50 although tensions flared occasionally during this early settlement phase, often due to jealousies over German success.51 German families were extensively involved in sugar production in the northern areas of Pimpama, Alberton and Beenleigh. Notable families included Heck, Rehfeld, Kleinschmidt and Huth. In the

southern hinterland areas were the Schmidt family, who began dairy farming at Mudgeeraba in the 1890s; the Sehmish family, loggers and farmers at Bonogin; the Hinze family who had a farm at what is now the Hinze dam;52 and Henry Schneider, partner of the Birribi sugar plantation at Nerang.53

Across Australia anti-German prejudice was to escalate towards the end of the 19th century with the growing competition between the British and German empires in world affairs. When war was declared in 1914, German communities suddenly became the target of suspicion and distrust. The Federal Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Hughes, engaged in an active campaign to eliminate German economic interests and cultural identity from the country, ensuring the nation remained staunchly British. This hostility was not only aimed at recent German arrivals, but also at those who had married Australians and become naturalised citizens, and those who were Australian by birth, sometimes second and third generation.54 Despite calls to intern all Germans, this was not feasible.

German School building, Alberton, circa 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Authorities undertook selective targeting of prominent business and spiritual leaders, as well as others deemed to pose potential security risks; in total 6890 people, mostly Germans and Austro-Hungarians, were sent to concentration camps in Australia.55 The closest camp to the Gold Coast was the Enoggera internment camp, located next to the existing army camp. It housed nearly 140 internees, including the non-military officers and crew of civilian German ships docked in Brisbane after the outbreak of war. The camp was closed in August 1915 and the internees were transferred to the Holsworthy camp in New South Wales.56

Under the War Precautions Act 1914, those Germans not interned had to register at the nearest police station and comply with certain restrictions, such as not owning motor vehicles and renouncing shares in public companies. German cultural institutions were also targeted, with the closing of German clubs being a prime example. Prior to the war the Department of Education allowed German children to spend one day of their schooling week attending Lutheran churches to receive both religious instruction and German language lessons. In 1915 this privilege was rescinded with an instruction sent to all German schools advising that attendance at lessons given by a German pastor was no longer a valid excuse for absence from school.57 Anti-German feeling led to a Queensland Cabinet direction in 1916 that people of German or Austrian birth could not be employed in the public service if there were British nationals available. At the time there were 65 police officers of German background in Queensland, and although they were not dismissed, they were heavily monitored.58 The Queensland police were also required to keep a close eye on the Turkish, Syrian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Italian communities in the state and provide assessments of the moral character of soldiers’ wives who were receiving assistance.60 This

move to restrict or erase German communities even extended to German place names, many of which were replaced with non-German names. Locally, Steizlits (Steglitz) was changed to Woongoolba in 1917.61

Although German people were extensively persecuted in various parts of Australia during the war, the Gold Coast area appears to have been much more accommodating of its German population, and extreme forms of harassment did not eventuate.62 In part this may be due to the more lenient attitude of the federal government towards German farmers, who were seen as more useful and less of a potential threat than industrialists and businessmen. The economic importance of the German farming community to the Gold Coast, especially the northern sugar district around Beenleigh and Alberton, was well established. A considerable amount of the farming in this area was in the hands of old German families and all the sugar mills were under the control of the Southern Queensland

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 30 January 1916, page 9

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203037241

SUGAR "SAUERKRAUTS" SNORT.

BEENLEIGH, June 13, 1908.A meetingof the Southern Queensland SugarMillers' Association was held in the ShireHall on Saturday afternoon. Therewere present: Messrs.

H. Heinemann(president),

G. F. Dauth(JunctionMill),O.Kleinschmidt(Steglitz),

W. Heck (RockyPoint),A.KIeinschmidt(AlbertRiver),C. F. W.

Rehfeldt (Alberton), A. Herse,senr. and junr.,and W. Pinnow (Eagleby), Musch (Gramzow), and W. Kleinschmidt (secretary).It was agreedthatthe association shouldapproach the Germanlmperial Government, throughthe GermanConsul,to see what assistance they wouldget to transfer theirmills and belongings to German possessions.—News item.

CHORUS OF FRAUS (TO QUEENSLAND): "VE DON'D VONDTO BLAY IN YOUR YARD."

Southern Queensland Sugar Millers’ Association cartoon from Truth newspaper, January 1916.59

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Henry and Mary Thomasine (nee Cooper) Schneider, circa 1880. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Sugar Miller’s Association, which was run exclusively by Germans.63 Occasionally, this ownership caused local concern as reflected in the article published in the Brisbane newspaper Truth in 1916 regarding sugar prices and labour on farms (see cartoon page 32).64

The strong position of the local German community was reflected in leaders such as Otto Kleinschmidt, Carl Rehfedt and Wilhelm Heck, who all served on the Beenleigh Shire Council throughout the war. They demonstrated their loyalty to Australia by being involved in forming a local war council to assist in the war against Germany and participating in Patriotic Day parades.65 Despite this greater level of tolerance, the local German families could not avoid being touched by the wider sense of discrimination sweeping the country. The Lutheran church schools at Beenleigh, Pimpama Island, Alberton and Norwell were among those in the state affected by the clampdown on German religious and language instruction.66

Almost all the German people interned, even if natural-born Australians, were deported to Germany after the war. This would have had an emotional as well as cultural impact on all German communities as many deportees were business and spiritual leaders. The war saw the virtual cessation of German immigration to the Gold Coast district and eroded its position as a flourishing centre for German culture. Some German families stopped maintaining their language and assimilated even more closely into mainstream society. People even changed their names, like Henry Schneider, who changed his surname to Carlton a year before his death in 1917 ‘on account of the annoyance and inconvenience it had caused his children since the beginning of the war’.67

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Repatriation and convalescence at homeIn 1915 the Queensland Government established the Queensland War Council (1915-1932), which was chaired by the Queensland Premier.68 Its role was to recruit and coordinate the funding and initiatives for employment, medical care and settlement of returned soldiers as well as assist the families of those killed or disabled. Local War Council Committees were also established including Beenleigh,69 Coomera,70 Coolangatta/Tweed Heads,71 and Southport72. Local War Councils had various agendas, political and otherwise. The Coomera War Council was sarcastically reported by newspaper, the Daily Standard, as a ‘remarkable War Council’ in 1916 when they decided to send a petition to the Commonwealth Government concerning the Defence of the Realm Act 1914. They petitioned that inciting workers to strike during war time should be an indictable offence under the Act. The move was criticised by the paper as unworkable and that ‘only martial law will deprive men of the right to strike against oppressive economic conditions’.73

The Southport War Council was involved in discussions about the 1916 Anzac Day commemorations. At the time the Southport Shire Council thought that as the War Council was in touch with the military, and had two ministers of religion on its committee, that it would be better able to deal with arrangements for Anzac Day commemorations.74 Eventually it was decided to ask the religious bodies to hold services in the churches. Other typical War Council activities included social functions like the one held in 1918 at the Empire Theatre in Tweed Heads, which, under the auspices of the local Soldiers Recognition Committee, welcomed home trooper Ernie (Pat) Powell, and farewelled new recruit Mr JC Cunningham.75

As the war progressed, the focus increasingly turned to the repatriation of soldiers, and the Queensland War Council established the Queensland Repatriation Committee and associated fund in 1916.76 Again, local branches formed including the Coolangatta Repatriation Committee who noted in their formation meeting that the duties of the committee were most important and that it was their privilege and duty to look after returning soldiers.77 The Queensland War Council and its local committees were the primary force in the repatriation of Queensland soldiers until the Federal Government took over the role in early 1918. Key measures that needed local and state coordination included land and financial assistance for which returned servicemen could apply under the Queensland Government’s Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act 1917. Another measure to support returned servicemen was the preferential employment scheme adopted by the Public Service Board.

The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) was also intimately involved in repatriation. Formed in 1916 it was the precursor of today’s Returned and Services League (RSL). It established various local branches, with a Tweed Heads sub-branch being active by mid-1919,78 and a sub-branch forming in Southport in the same year to represent the soldiers of Southport, Nerang, Mudgeeraba and Coomera districts.79 By the 1920s the Tweed Heads branch had become the Tweed Heads and Coolangatta RSSILA,80 and in 1933 a sub-branch formed in Burleigh.81

The high casualties inflicted on the Allied forces at Gallipoli from 25 April to 20 December 1915 sent a shockwave through the nation and presented

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Military personnel recovering at Staghorn Hospital, Southport, 1916. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

the alarming prospect of having to deal with many wounded evacuated soldiers coming home. To help meet this urgent medical need, military hospitals and convalescent homes were hastily established by converting existing houses and government facilities. Hospitals were established at Enoggera, Rosemount House in Windsor, in Toowoomba, at the Kangaroo Point Immigration Depot, and on the Gold Coast.82 With its beaches, ocean and mild maritime climate, the Gold Coast became an ideal locale for restoring the health of convalescing soldiers, a role it performed during both World Wars.

On the Gold Coast a military hospital was established in mid-1915 in a rambling old house known as Staghorn, previously the residence of former Queensland Governor, Sir Henry Norman, and at the time owned by Mr D.J. Abercrombie.83

Initially designated No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital, it later changed to No. 8 Auxiliary Hospital, but was more commonly referred to as Staghorn Hospital. It was located within the newly released Staghorn Estate, Labrador, and had capacity for 50 beds. The facility was equipped and run with the assistance of the Red Cross and the Southport Wounded Soldiers Fund.84 The local community were also very supportive of the hospital. Among the items donated to the hospital were bamboo blinds, a gramophone, books and magazines, cigarettes, tinned and fresh food, and baked goods.85

Another hospital was established in Surfers Paradise in the old Main Beach Hotel at the river end of Cavill Avenue. This had been purchased by Mr H.S. Bere of ‘The Hill’, Southport, as a holiday house. Mr Bere, the secretary of the Southport Wounded Fund, offered the

36

Newspaper article in the National Leader about the appointment of a German manager to Staghorn, November 1916.86

Newspaper article in the National Leader about men who have not served being given jobs at the local hospitals, December 1916.87

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building to the military as a convalescence facility and it was turned into the 50 bed No. 2 Auxiliary Hospital, later No. 7 Auxiliary Hospital.88

Both hospitals were lit by gas and had wide verandahs with easy chairs for patients to take in the sea breezes. Activities were also organised for the convalescing soldiers and included games and outings. Mr Bere placed his motor launch at the disposal of Staghorn and boat trips were run two to three times a week.89 Christmas was a particularly busy time at Staghorn, with the Red Cross and local community coming together to provide Christmas lunch and entertainment.90 A recreation room was eventually added to Staghorn,

at a cost of £219 (approximately $21,000), which accommodated a donated billiards table and where concerts were held.91

Both hospitals were initially managed by warrant-officer Nickel, who was based at Staghorn Hospital and had a staff of one sergeant, one sergeant cook, one corporal and three privates at each hospital. Nickel was later replaced by Sergeant-Major Goode. Staffing fluctuated over the course of the war, with contentious appointments at times, such as the replacement of Goode by a man of German background in late 1916. This caused tension and was reflected in the National Leader newspaper reports of the appointment (see page 36).

‘Staghorn’ converted to the No.3 Army Auxiliary Hospital, mid-1915. Image courtesy State Library of Queensland.

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Another official was dismissed from Staghorn following agitation from the Brisbane-based National Leader newspaper when it was revealed he had not seen active service; the newspaper believed employment within the home service, which included the auxiliary hospitals, should be reserved for returned servicemen and also objected to a non-serving man being employed as the caretaker for the Main Beach Hospital and the driver of the Staghorn motor ambulance.92

Officially the two hospitals had the capacity to accommodate up to 100 men, but it is unclear if that number was ever reached because the Main Beach Hospital appears to have sat empty for a time in 1916, and the main fundraising and other activities were primarily focussed on Staghorn.93 In 1919, after the end of the war, Staghorn was closed and all the Red Cross property, including the recreation room, was disposed of.94 The Old Main Beach Hotel was demolished in the 1920s.

The other main convalescent facility was the Coolangatta Soldiers’ Rest House, established by

Church of England Soldiers Rest Home, Coolangatta, circa 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Light-horsemen in front of the Church of England Rest House, Coolangatta, circa 1918. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

the Church of England, which opened in January 1918.95 It was run by committee which relied heavily on public donations of food, goods and money and provided holiday accommodation to soldiers being treated at the military hospitals as well as returned soldiers in general.96 Returned soldiers wishing to stay at the home had to apply to the Anzac Club in Charlotte Street, Brisbane. By late 1918 the rest home had 30 beds, but by early the following year it had doubled its capacity to 60 beds and was able to offer accommodation for large numbers of returned servicemen. The Daily Mail noted that here ‘in healthful recreation, in the company of old comrades, and administered by gentle women, they have been able to win back much of the health and vitality which they had spent in the service of the nation.’97 Although the original building has long been replaced with a modern facility, the rest home continues to provide accommodation to service personnel to this day.

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The Soldiers’ Rest Home feature in The Queensland Pictorial, 1919. Image courtesy State Library of Queensland.

4040

Peace Day parade in the Pimpama district, circa 1918. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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An unquiet peaceThe news of the Armistice in 1918 was welcomed with a range of public celebrations. Peace parades were organised by communities all over the Gold Coast and held from Coolangatta in the south to Pimpama in the north. They were an opportunity for people to publically celebrate the end of World War 1.

While hostilities officially ended on 11 November 1918, life in Australia did not return to how it had been prior to 1914. Most historians now agree that the war left the nation shattered, divided and profoundly changed.98 Response to the war had initially been an enthusiastic demonstration of loyalty to empire, but as hostilities dragged on and the casualties mounted, rifts opened in the social and political fabric of the home front. Questions began to be asked about the point of the war. Anti-war campaigns and peace councils formed, and were targeted by the federal government. Communities became divided along many lines, including families who lost men and women and those who had not, and between capitalists and labour supporters. Men who appeared capable of fighting, but for various reasons did not, were, along with their families, shamed and ostracised. Flagging enlistments led to two bitterly fought referendums in 1916 and 1917 over introducing conscription, and these saw competing propaganda campaigns heavily aimed at the emotions of mothers to either support or reject the sending of sons into battle. The conscription bills were defeated but focussed sectarian animosity against Irish Catholics (who generally argued strongly against conscription). The ill treatment of those members of the community classed as enemy aliens, especially those of German background, left Australia both less tolerant and less multicultural. Into this mix came returning soldiers, many of whom were physically sick and disabled and suffering from what we

Cover of a commemorative booklet for Armistice Day featuring King George V, Southport, 29 November, 1918. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Peace parade, Nerang Street, Southport, 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Peace Day procession through Mudgeeraba, 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

know today is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In the long term, many veterans emerged as deeply damaged members of society who found it difficult to adjust to life back home. Numerous cases appeared of war veterans disrupting their families and communities through drink and violence, falling victim to mental illness, and ultimately resorting to suicide. These traumas and rifts did not end with the war but lingered into the 1920s and 30s until subsumed into the hardship of the Great Depression and then a second world war.

The Gold Coast witnessed its share of post-war difficulties. There was the grief of loss, which in many cases was intensified by a lack of closure because under British military policy the dead were buried where they fell. The bodies of many soldiers were never recovered from foreign soil and returned home. Then there was the economic impact on the men who returned invalided, as well as their families, which was especially severe for those on the land who relied so heavily on able bodies to undertake manual labour.

Many returned soldiers, parents, widows, fiancés and children were financially cut adrift and plunged into grinding poverty. The often rigid and mean-spirited bureaucracy of the early Department of Defence could make it difficult for families to access war pensions, especially when death or disablement of a provider occurred some years after the end of the war, or could not be conclusively related to injuries incurred during service.

There are many local stories to be examined which illustrate different impacts on the returnees and the families of those who served.

The Millen family was to lose two of its three sons. George Edward was killed in action in France in August 1916 and Robert John, after being twice wounded in action, was killed in July 1917. He was interred in the Adelaide British Cemetery, Villers Bretonneus, France. The third son, William received a serious gun-shot wound to his hip. While his treatment was favourable he was no longer able to fight. He was discharged as an

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Dear Madam, Upon enlistment the late No. 181 Private G.E. Millen…recorded you as next of kin but it is noted from the file that his father is living…according to the instructions under the “Deceased Soldiers’ Estates Act 1918” which prescribes that these items must go to next of kin in the following order of relationship unless good and sufficient reasons for varying the procedure are stated for the consideration of the Minister: …father, mother, eldest surviving brother, eldest surviving sister…”

Letter from Defence Department to Miss M. Millen regarding the allocation of G. E. Millen’s war medals etc. National Archives of Australia: B2455, Millen GE.

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Lt. Christopher Reginald Andrews.

Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

invalid, returned home in 1919, married and moved to New Zealand. The war exposed rifts within this family. George Edward did not leave a will and after his death his sister Margaret, to whom he was very close and had named as his next of kin, entered into a dispute with their father for George’s medals and gratuity. The result was that Margaret received the gratuity payments and his father received his war medals.

Southport born Christopher Reginald Andrews, brother of Sister Linda Andrews, was a 21 year old engineer when he enlisted in the AIF on 24 December 1915.99 He was assigned to the Australian Flying Corps as a private and worked as a fitter and turner. Initially based in Egypt, he was soon transferred to England where he achieved the rank of lieutenant and graduated as a pilot. He subsequently saw service in France and Belgium where he was wounded in action, and admitted to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds including to the right eye, right ear, both legs and feet, and right buttock. The lower body wounds were severe and he was discharged as an invalid and returned to Australia in January 1919. After the war Christopher Andrews returned to Southport and joined the RSSILA. He later married and moved to Mount Tambourine, where he and his wife had a daughter in March 1924.100 Sadly, not long afterwards, on 30 June 1924 he died as a consequence of his war injuries.101

The Fulton family of Springbrook was to lose three of its sons. In 1917, the youngest boy, Private Alexander Fulton wrote to the Assistant Adjunct General Australian Imperial Force (A.A.G.A.I.F) and requested to be returned home as he was the sole support for his aged parents. He noted that at least three of his brothers, William, Thomas and George, had already died in service and one, Hugh, had been returned to Australia disabled.102 At the time he was not sure of the whereabouts of his other brother, John. Alexander was

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Letter to the A.A.G.A.I.F from Alexander Fulton requesting he be returned to Australia for family reasons.

NAA: B2455, FULTON A D.

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Receipt for delivery of Frederick Anderson’s personal effects to his family. National Archives of Australia: B2455, ANDERSON F A.

Military portrait of Frederick Alexander Anderson, 1914. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

discharged and returned home in April 1918. John also returned home later the same year, disabled.

Another story illustrating the tragic impact of the war is that of Frederick Alexander Anderson.103 Frederick Anderson was born and educated at Mudgeeraba, the second son of Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Anderson. An unmarried man, before enlisting he worked as a teamster, was well respected in the community where he was noted as being quiet and very unassuming, and possessed a significant amount of land in the Mudgeeraba district. On 16th September 1914, at the age of 35, he enlisted in the 15th Battalion, and was sent to Egypt, where he completed his training. He was then deployed to Gallipoli on April 25th 1915, and was killed in action on the morning of May 18th. His body was buried at Shrapnel Gulley by Colonel Reverend F. Wray on 20 May 1915. His death had an enormous impact on his family, particularly his two aged parents, and five siblings (an older brother and four sisters) who had cruelly heard of his fate in the newspaper rather than through official channels. The subsequent correspondence with the Department of Defence104 reveals first their anguish and determination to be provided official confirmation of Frederick’s death, and then their desire to be sent his personal effects and a photograph of his grave. The photograph could not be provided, but his meagre personal possessions, which included a diary, dictionary, fountain pen, knife, Roman Catholic token, silk handkerchief and postcards, were returned to his parents in two anonymous brown paper parcels. These stories are typical of the burden of grief the parents, siblings, friends and community had to bear as they lost their young men and women overseas.

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Lettergram from nearest station

J. AndersonRose HillMudgeeraba

Regret inform you newspaper announcement correct report was wired to military commandant Brisbane thirteenth instant to inform father cable containing report was dated ninth June date of death not known

Defence21/6/15”

Lettergram from Defence Department to J. Anderson confirming the newspaper report of his son’s death. National Archives of Australia: B2455, ANDERSON FA.

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Another impact of the war was the establishment of the Soldier Settlement Scheme. Under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act 1917 and associated regulations, land was resumed in all states and subdivided into small farm blocks. Discharged members of the armed forces and their dependents could apply for these land grants and financial assistance to build a house. The primary purpose of this Act was to open new agricultural land for settlement while at the same time providing a livelihood for the thousands of returning soldiers. While laudable, the scheme was plagued by some critical failures. One was that it was not extended to Indigenous soldiers and their families. In some cases was used to further dispossess Indigenous communities by carving up mission reserves, (on to which Colonial policy had originally forced them), for the settlement of white soldiers. Other problems included farms that were often too small or infertile to be viable, returnees lacking farming experience and the often fragile mental and physical condition of returned soldiers, which left them unsuited to rural labour. With the onset of the Great Depression, the economic feasibility of many of these holdings deteriorated further, with numerous returned soldiers and their families accruing large debts or walking off their land altogether.

In Queensland the main Soldier Settlements were at Amiens, Atherton Tablelands, Beerburrum, Cecil

Plains (Darling Downs), Coominya, El Arish and Ubobo. There was also a settlement across the border from Coolangatta at Bilambil in Tweed Shire. While no settlements were officially established on the Gold Coast, their presence was still felt with the Gold Coast communities actively involved in fundraising to provide the settlements with assistance. In 1920, for instance, the Coolangatta Peace Loan Committee and the local Returned Soldiers’ League were involved in a national campaign to raise money for loans to soldiers to assist them in becoming farmers.105 The residents of Coolangatta and district were particularly involved in the affairs and welfare of the nearby Soldier Settlement at Bilambil.

Into the 1920s and 30s a number of returned soldiers and their families settled land on the Gold Coast through later Depression Relief Schemes, particularly as farmers were encouraged into the area through the subdivision and release of selections for banana cultivation. Austinville, upper Mudgeeraba, was founded in 1934 as a banana settlement to provide employment to families in the Great Depression.106 However the community struggled with bunchytop virus, heavy frosts and isolation.107 Families soon began deserting and the school closed in 1939.108 More sustainable banana farming areas were established around Tallebudgera, Burleigh Heads and the New South Wales border.

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Arrival of banana settlers at the Mudgeeraba Railway Station before heading to Austinville, circa 1930s. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Quarantine tents erected as a result of the influenza pandemic at Coolangatta, circa 1918. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Men exchanging money over the Queensland - New South Wales border during the flu epidemic of 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

The influenza pandemicAnother major post-war impact on the Gold Coast was the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. Nicknamed the Spanish Flu, this particular virus began to infect troops and communities in Europe during the war. Its spread was greatly assisted by the close quarters and massive troop movements. The return home of infected personnel after hostilities ceased resulted in a global pandemic that killed over 50 million people – more than the war itself. In Australia it is estimated that in excess of 12, 000 people, including young healthy adults died as a result of the influenza pandemic.109 Queensland deaths totalled 830.110

One of the measures undertaken by authorities to stem its spread in Australia was the closure of the Queensland/New South Wales border. This caused the sudden isolation of the Gold Coast’s southernmost town, Coolangatta, from its neighbour Tweed Heads, located on the other side of the state boundary. Although surveyed in 1883, Coolangatta had largely developed as a residential satellite of Tweed Heads, which contained most of the essential services and infrastructure; hence the common name for the two being the Twin Towns. In January 1919, when the border was closed, people found themselves stranded on both sides of the border and unable to return to their homes or employment. An isolation camp was established next to the Coolangatta Rest Home as well as along the border to quarantine people travelling from New South Wales.111 Some 1300 to 1400 people had passed through the Coolangatta camp by March 1919. 112

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Stranded Queenslanders outside the Post Office, Tweed Heads, February 1919, during the influenza pandemic. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Opening of the Coolangatta State School, Queensland, 1920. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Another impact of the border closure was the need to duplicate services across the two towns, including the establishment of a school in Coolangatta. A temporary school was established behind the Coolangatta Municipal Council office on 10 February 1919 while a permanent school building was being built on Kirra Hill. The new Coolangatta State School opened in early 1920. While the border closure only remained in place until May 1919, it set in motion the development of Coolangatta as a distinct township.

Coolangatta State School following its first extension, Queensland, circa 1925. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Coolangatta State School pupils at the opening of the school, 1920. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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War MemorialsDuring the course of the war a strong community need to honour those who served emerged and was carried through subsequent decades. This was the first war to touch Australia as a federated nation and impact all its communities. A common way of commemorating the Great War was the placement of honour boards and the building of monuments and memorial halls. Prior to World War I Queensland had few civic monuments, but after the war there was a flurry of monument and memorial building to mark the devastating effect the conflict had on society. Indeed, even before the war had finished some memorials were already in place. An honour board to those who had served in the war was unveiled at the Southport School of Arts in 1916. At the time of the unveiling, it was noted the board carried the names of five members of the Whelan family, and that the names of others, including F. Spencer, BE. Stevens and Miss May Greer, were still to be

Mudgeeraba District Roll of Honour, World War 1. The roll of honour was originally housed in the Mudgeeraba Railway Station, but was moved to the Mudgeeraba – Springbrook Memorial Hall when it opened in 1922. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

added. 113 In following years, honour boards were also erected in various public buildings including the Upper Coomera School of Arts, Pimpama School of Arts and the Mudgeeraba-Springbrook Soldiers Memorial Hall – which had been built in 1922 as a memorial to those who had served.

Construction of war memorials on the Gold Coast also happened quickly at the end of the War. One of the earliest memorials on the Gold Coast was the Pimpama and Ormeau War Memorial, erected by local residents in the grounds of the Pimpama Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church in 1919. The masons were A.L. Petrie of Toowong and the project cost £154 (approximately $14,000), which was raised by public subscription from the local community. The War Memorial was erected in remembrance of the six local Pimpama men who lost their lives in World War I.

Mudgeeraba and Springbrook Memorial Hall, circa 1923. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Memorial soldier and Pimpama and Ormeau Honour Roll, Pimpama, circa 1919. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

War Memorial and war trophies at Anzac Park, Southport, circa 1924.

Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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Another early memorial is the Southport War Memorial, which was built of Helidon freestone and unveiled in 1922.114 Its original location was on the foreshore end of Nerang Street in Southport. Like the Pimpama and Ormeau War memorial, it is a digger statue supported by a plinth.

One of the few obelisk-style memorials is the Coolangatta War Memorial, erected in 1926 at the intersection of Griffith and MacLean Streets and later moved to Queen Elizabeth Park. It is an obelisk topped with a funeral shroud, symbolizing those who died. Crossed rifles on the front suggest the soldiers are now at peace.

These memorials were extremely important to those families who had lost members overseas, for they served as a place of remembrance much like a grave. They also became the centre of general community commemoration and reflection. Across the Gold Coast communities banded together and through public subscription and, with the assistance of local RSSILA

organisations, erected memorials to those who had died as well as those who had served during the Great War. Most memorials were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported from overseas. Memorials produced by masonry firm A.L.Petrie and Son of Toowong were the most prolific. They were the largest masonry firm in Queensland at this time and were responsible for many First World War memorials throughout the state. In Queensland the soldier statue was the most popular choice of memorial whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states. Researchers posit that this may be due to the stronger working class traditions of Queensland, with which the digger image struck a chord through its embodiment of ideal Australian virtues of the time: loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was also more common due to the fact that in other states the design of memorials was overseen by advisory boards of architects and artists115 who tended to regard the digger statue in an unfavourable light. On the Gold Coast, memorial design was in the hands of the local community.

Coolangatta War Memorial in Griffith Street, Coolangatta, circa 1929. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

Avenue of Commemorative Trees, 2011. Image courtesy City of Gold Coast.

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Australia’s Govenor-General Lord Forster at the official opening of Southport Anzac Memorial Park, 1922. E H Foreman, photographer.

Image courtesy of City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

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A less expensive way of memorialising those lost during the Great War was through the planting of commemorative trees. This was done by both individuals and communities. World War 1 commemorative plantings survive at Latimer’s Crossing, Numinbah Valley. This avenue of fifteen Hoop Pines (Araucaria cunninghamii) and one Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) was planted around 1920 by Joseph Hinde, a teamster from Numinbah, in honour of his brother Thomas Hinde who was killed in action in France in 1918.

Thomas Hinde was a 23 year old farmer from Gilston. He enlisted for service in March 1916 with the AIF. He was appointed to the 20th Reinforcement, 9th Battalion and despatched overseas. Private Hinde served for two years in Belgium and France and was wounded in action a number of times. On the 19th September 1918, he was again wounded in action and admitted to the 55th General Hospital in Boulogne with a gunshot wound to the head. He died of his wounds on the 21st September 1918 and was interred at Terlincthun British Cemetery.116

Some of the trees originally planted in the avenue are no longer extant and those that remain are entered in the Gold Coast Local Heritage Register.

The Great War also gave rise to the modern peace movement, which began during the war years and was continued through the subsequent conflicts of the 20th century. One Gold Coast individual who became involved in this movement was John Hall Rosser. He was a 24 year old, unmarried beekeeper living with his mother at Mount Tambourine when he enlisted for service on 19 March 1917.117 Like many other men of the area, he travelled by train to Brisbane and was accepted into the field artillery. Soon after enlistment he had to apply for leave to return home to see his mother and arrange for a man to care for his beekeeping business.

He was then transferred to Sydney and in April 1918, left for the Australian Camp at Suez as Acting Sergeant. Here he faced the poor sanitary conditions of camp life and quickly succumbed to diarrhoea and was hospitalised for sixteen days. After being discharged from hospital he was transferred to Alexandria, Southampton and then France, during which he reverted to the rank of gunner. On 4 February 1919 he was evacuated to the Group Clearing Hospital, Sutton Veney, Wiltshire, England, after contracting the influenza virus. John recovered from the illness and was granted leave without pay to return to Australia. He returned at his own expense via the United States, where he took the opportunity to cross the country by motorbike.

John quickly resumed his old life as a beekeeper at Mount Tambourine, married, started a family, moved to a farm at Benowa and became a prominent figure in the apiary industry. He was profoundly altered by his wartime experiences and became a self-educated free thinker deeply concerned with the betterment of human society. The ideals of socialism intrigued him and he stood for election in the 1949 local elections as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party. He also emerged as a leader of the Queensland Peace Council and member of the Australian Peace Council, contesting the 1951 federal election as an independent peace candidate and actively campaigning against nuclear armaments during the Cold War period.118He also became an early environmentalist, champion of free education and wrote prolifically to the newspapers on a wide range of intellectual and utopian issues. Towards the end of his life, his philanthropy led to his granting approximately 6.5 acres of his farm land for the creation of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens.

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Anzac Day memorial service on Marine Parade, Coolangatta, circa 1930s.

Image courtesy of City of Gold Coast Libraries Local Studies Collection.

60

End notes1 Wikipedia. “World War 1.” 20 May 2016, en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/World_War_I#Allied_victory:_summer_1918_onwards.

2 Australian War Memorial. “Enlistment statistics, First World War.” 20 May 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/enlistment/ww1/.

3 Australian War Memorial. “First World War 1914-1918.” 14 June 2016, www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1/.

4 Wikipedia. “Australian Army.” 25 May 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Army.

5 Australian Military History of the Early 20th Century. “Desert Column Forum.” 25 May 2016, alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog?topic_id=1104177.

6 Wikipedia. “First Australian Imperial Force.” 26 May 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Australian_Imperial_Force accessed.

7 Wikipedia. “First Australian Imperial Force.” 26 May 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Australian_Imperial_Force accessed.

8 “Country Volunteers.”, The Brisbane Courier (Qld: 1864-1933), 22 March 1915:7. Web, 18 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20051097.

9 “SOUTHPORT SCHOOL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 11 December 1917: 8. Web. 22 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20202057.

10 Australian War Memorial. “Enlistment statistics, First World War.” 20 May 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/enlistment/.

11 Australian War Memorial. “Enlistment statistics, First World War.” 20 May 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/enlistment/.

12 “WHY SHOULD I FIGHT?” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 23 December 1914: 8. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20004027.

13 Australian War Memorial. “Enlistment statistics, First World War.” 20 May 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/enlistment/.

14 Australian War Memorial. “Indigenous Australian servicemen.” 10 October 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/aborigines/indigenous/.

15 Australian War Memorial. “Anzac Diveristy.” 10 October 2016, www.awm.gov.au/education/schools/resources/anzac-diversity/.

16 Kennedy, Alastair. Chinese Anzacs: Australians of Chinese descent in the defence forces 1885-1919 / Alastair Kennedy A. Kennedy] [O’Connor, A.C.T 2012, p. 13.

17 “SOUTHPORT SHIRE COUNCIL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 15 September 1916: 9. Web. 25 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20096064.

18 “Anti-Conscription Fighting Fund.” Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955) 20 December 1917: 15. Web. 22 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71040827.

19 “The Referendum” The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) 31 October 1916: 5. Web. 22 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176377763.

20 “LIGHT HORSE ALLOWANCES.” Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954) 30 January 1914: 7. Web. 23 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article171498190.

21 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, Healy L 685

61

22 Information for Margaret, Agnes and Robert Millen verified through Queensland Births Deaths and Marriages.

23 Australian Red Cross. “100 years of women’s service to Red Cross.” 25 June 2016, www.redcross.org.au/100-years-of-womens-service-to-red-cross.aspx.

24 Australian War Memorial. “Blog: Australian Army Nursing Service.” 29 June 2016, www.awm.gov.au/blog/2014/05/14/australian-army-nursing-service-1914-15-outdoor-dress/.

25 Other references give the Andrews family address as East Knoyle, Southport.

26 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ANDREWS L G.

27 State Library of Queensland. “Nurse Jane McLennen collection digitised @ SLQ.” 14 June 2016, blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ww1/2015/08/04/nurse-jane-mclennan-collection-digitised-slq/.

28 “WOMAN’S WORLD.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 20 May 1920: 11. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2041506; “SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 25 March 1925: 19. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20900087.

29 “WOMAN’S WORLD.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 20 May 1920: 11. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20415065; “SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 25 March 1925: 19. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20900087; “SOCIAL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 30 June 1927: 19. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21853304.

30 “PREPARATION’S FOR THE PACIFIC CABLE.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 11 March 1902: 6. Web. 23 Aug 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19161596.

31 “ANOTHER LINK SEVERED” South Coast Bulletin (Southport, Qld. : 1929 - 1954) 18 April 1951: 9. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225634325.

32 Express. “The battle to feed Tommy: new exhibition looks at the diet of a WW1 soldier.” 25 May 2016, www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/502452/The-Battle-to-feed-Tommy-The-diet-of-a-WW1-soldier.

33 Australian War Memorial. “Make hard tack.” 25 May 2016, www.awm.gov.au/education/schools/resources/hard-tack/.

34 YMCA. “World War One a National Presence Emerges.” 25 May 2016, www.ymcabrisbane.org/150/stories/world-war-one-a-national-presence-emerges.html.

35 Queensland State Archives. “Stories from the archives: the Queensland home front during the First World War.” 15 June 2016, blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2014/06/10/the-queensland-home-front-during-the-first-world-war/.

36 Australian War Memorial. “Voluntary Aid Detachments.” 5 October 2016, www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vad/.

37 Queensland State Archives. “Stories from the archives: the Queensland home front during the First World War.” 15 June 2016, blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2014/06/10/the-queensland-home-front-during-the-first-world-war/.

62

38 “MOVEMENTS IN THE COUNTRY.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld: 1864 - 1933) 8 September 1914: 7. Web. 1 Sep 2016 nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19982166

39 “QUEENSLAND PATRIOTIC FUND” Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936) 2 February 1915: 2 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181407087; “SOCK AND COMFORT FUND.” Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922) 6 November 1915: 5. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182686515.40 The Brisbane Courier, 18 August 1915, p. 7.

40 “COURIER” PATRIOTIC FUNDS.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 18 August 1915: 7. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20033005.

41 “COUNTRY MOVEMENTS.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 15 December 1915: 10. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20062461; “PATRIOTIC WAR WORK.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 13 March 1918: 8. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20216279.

42 “PATRIOTIC WAR WORK.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 4 October 1917: 8. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20190938.

43 “WAR FUNDS.” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 26 December 1916: 2. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215513016.

44 “OUR NEIGHBOURS.” The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) 13 April 1918: 16. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22360153.

45 “SOUTHPORT SHOW.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 29 September 1916: 8. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20125012.

46 “[?]MUD, FROST. AND TANKS” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 8 February 1917:

9. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214364304.

47 Fischer, Gerard, ‘Fighting the war at home: the internment of enemy aliens in Australia during World War 1’, 2011, pp. 17 – 45 in Helmi, Nadine. and Fischer, Gerard. The enemy at home : German internees in World War I Australia / by Nadine Helmi, Gerard Fischer ; with contributions from Beth Hise, Stephen Thompson, Mark Viner UNSW Press Kensington, N.S.W 2011.

48 Jones, M. A. Country of five rivers, Albert Shire 1788-1988 /Michael Jones Allen & Unwin Sydney 1988, pp. 43, 186-190.

49 Jones, M., pp.128-181, 189-190.

50 Howells, Mary. and Johnson, Darren. and Logan (Qld.). Council. Logan River Tinnie Trail : a heritage trail along the Logan River / by Mary Howells ; illustrated by Darren Johnson Logan City Council Logan City, Qld 2003, pp. 70.51 M. Jones, p. 123, 190.

51 M. Jones, p. 123, 190.

52 City of Gold Coast oral history collection, Doreen Kropp and Jean Groves oral history, 2013.

53 “PERSONAL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 28 February 1917: 11. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20154864.

54 Fischer, G., pp. 20-21.

55 Fischer, G., p. 24.

56 National Archives of Australia. “Enoggera (Gaythorne), Queensland (1914-15 and 1940-46): World War 1.” 28 June 2016, www.naa.gov.au/collection/snapshots/internment-camps/WWI/enoggera.aspx.

57 Queensland State Archives Item ID2036412, Correspondence.

63

58 Queensland State Archives. “Stories from the archives: the Queensland home front during the First World War.” 15 June 2016, blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2014/06/10/the-queensland-home-front-during-the-first-world-war/.

59 “SUGAR “SAUERKRAUTS” SNORT.” Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954) 30 January 1916: 9. Web. 5 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203037241.

60 Queensland State Archives. “Stories from the archives: the Queensland home front during the First World War.” 15 June 2016, blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2014/06/10/the-queensland-home-front-during-the-first-world-war/.

61 “PUGH’S ALMANAC.” The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) 20 March 1917: 2 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 13 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176437088.

62 Jones, M., p. 197

63 “SUGAR “SAUERKRAUTS” SNORT.” Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954) 30 January 1916: 9. Web. 5 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203037241.

64 “SUGAR “SAUERKRAUTS” SNORT.” Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954) 30 January 1916: 9. Web. 13 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203037241.

65 “BEENLEIGH SHIRE COUNCIL.” Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936) 26 October 1917: 3 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179427709; “BEENLEIGH SHIRE COUNCIL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 26 February 1915: 8. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20012988; “RECRUITING COMMITTEES.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 22 January 1916: 5. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20057673; “BEENLEIGH

SHIRE COUNCIL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 25 February 1916: 9. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20057748.

66 Queensland State Archives, Item ID1623126, Correspondence.

67 “PERSONAL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 28 February 1917: 11. Web. 13 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov. au/nla.news-article20154864.

68 Queensland State Archives. “Stories from the archives: the Queensland home front during the First World War.” 15 June 2016, blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2014/06/10/the-queensland-home-front-during-the-first-world-war/.

69 “RECRUITING COMMITTEES.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 22 January 1916: 5. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20057673. more in this article.

70 “THE COGITATIONS OF COOMERA.”Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936) 18 July 1916: 4 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179857827.

71 “TWEED HEADS AND COOLANGATTA” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 4 October 1918: 2. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191049893.

72 “SOUTHPORT SHIRE COUNCIL.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 16 June 1916: 9. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20117393.

73 “THE COGITATIONS OF COOMERA.” Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936) 18 July 1916: 4 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179857827.

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74 “A SUGGESTION FROM SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 13 April 1916: 9. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20106712.

75 “LOWER RIVER” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 2 September 1918: 2. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191055000.

76 “TWEED HEADS AND COOLANGATTA” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 4 October 1918: 2. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191049893.

77 “TWEED HEADS AND COOLANGATTA” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 12 October 1918: 4. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191050055.

78 “R.S.S.I.L.A.” Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954) 20 June 1919: 7. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92994632.

79 “R.S.S.I.L.A.” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 5 April 1919: 4. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215143004.

80 “COOLANGATTA AND TWEED HEADS.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 30 May 1925: 16. Web. 14 Sep2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20930841.

81 “BURLEIGH R.S.S.I.L.A.” The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) 5 June 1933: 5 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181195084.

82 “HAVEN BY THE SEA.” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 1 February 1917: 3. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214365801; “FOR OUR WOUNDED BOYS.” The Brisbane

Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 10 June 1915: 7. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20010771; “AUXILIARY HOSPITAL AT SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 18 December 1915: 7. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20076799; Australian Army Medical Corps files (Tait collection) 1914-18 War:] AAMC units in Australia - Convalescent homes and Auxiliary Hospitals in 1st Military District - No.7 Australian Auxiliary Hospital “Old Main Beach Hotel”, Southport Qld - No.8 AAH “Staghorn”, Southport Qld - No.9 AAH “Finchley”, Toowoomba Qld.

83 “For Our Wounded Boys” The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) 19 June 1915: 40. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22298174. “FOR OUR WOONDED.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 30 July 1915: 7. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20027214.

84 “FOR OUR WOONDED.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 30 July 1915: 7. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20027214.

85 “AUXILIARY HOSPITAL AT SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 18 December 1915: 7. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20076799.

86 “ALIENS AGAIN.” National Leader (Brisbane, Qld. : 1916 - 1918) 3 November 1916: 7. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132394108.

87 “SOUTHPORT MURMURS.” National Leader (Brisbane, Qld. : 1916 - 1918) 15 December 1916: 6. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132395537.

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88 “AUXILIARY HOSPITAL.” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 20 October 1915: 4. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191039295.

89 “OF INTEREST TO WOMEN.” National Leader (Brisbane, Qld. : 1916 - 1918) 10 November 1916: 6. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132394024.

90 “No. 3 AUXILIARY MILITARY HOSPITAL, SOUTHPORT.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 1 January 1916: 6. Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20077345.

91 “RED CROSS SOCIETY.” Daily Standard (Brisbane, Qld. : 1912 - 1936) 17 October 1916: 2 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 12 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181084106.

92 “SOUTHPORT MURMURS.” National Leader (Brisbane, Qld. : 1916 - 1918) 15 December 1916: 6. Web. 1 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132395537.

93 National Leader, 15 December 1916, p. 6.

94 “RED CROSS SOCIETY.” The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) 1 March 1919: 6. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22370002.

95 “SOLDIERS’ REST HOME AT COOLANGATTA.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 17 January 1918: 7. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20207206.

96 “AT COOLANGATTA.” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 3 January 1919: 7. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220549176; “COOLANGATTA SOLDIERS’ REST HOUSE.”

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 16 April 1918: 2. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190157716.; “TWEED HEADS AND COOLANGATTA” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 4 October 1918: 2. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191049893.

97 “AT COOLANGATTA.” The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903 - 1926) 3 January 1919: 7. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220549176.

98 For a detailed account of the impacts of the Great War see Evans, Raymond: Loyalty and disloyalty. Social conflicton the Queensland home front, 1914-18, Sydney; Boston 1987: Allen & Unwin.

99 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ANDREWS CR; Queensland Times, 19 February 1930, p. 8.

100 “RETURNED SAILORS AND SOLDIERS’ IMPERIAL LEAGUE.” Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947) 8 August 1919: 6. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152605097; “Family Notices” Queensland Figaro (Brisbane, Qld. : 1901 - 1936) 1 March 1924: 6. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83679980.

101 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ANDREWS CR

102 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, FULTON A D

103 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ANDERSON F A.

104 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ANDERSON FA

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105 “Peace Loan Campaign.” The Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934) 20 August 1920: 18. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186527534. “TWEED HEADS.” Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949) 27 August 1920: 2. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191741777.

106 “AUSTINVILLE” Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954) 2 June 1934: 5. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177506736.

107 “COUNTRY NEWS” The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954) 27 July 1935: 8. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36756987; “GLEANINGS FROM THE COUNTRY” The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954) 24 April 1937: 7. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36900451.

108 “STRAWBERRY OUTPUT RIBBON TO” The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954) 22 June 1939: 4 (Second Section.). Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40852031.

109 Curson, P and McCracken, K., “An Australian Perspective of the 1918 – 1919 Influenza Pandemic”. Department of Human Geography, Macquarie University. In NSW Public Health Bulletin, Vol. 17., No. 7-8., p. 103 – 107.

110 Office of Economic and Statistical Research, Queensland Government. “Queensland Past and Present: 100 Years of Statistics 1896–1996”. Office of Economic and Statistical Research, Queensland Government. 1998. Chapter 8, Health, Section 4, pp. 254-263. 5 October 2016. www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/qld-past-present/qld-past-present-1896-1996-ch08-sec-04.pdf.

111 “SOLDIERS’ REST HOUSE, COOLANGATTA.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 18 February 1919: 7. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.

news-article20254606. “SOLDIERS’ C. OF E. HELP SOCIETY” The BrisbaneCourier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 28 February 1919: 4. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20249182.

112 “FROM THE BORDER CAMPS.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 7 March 1919: 7. Web. 14 Sep 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20276904.

113 “SOUTHPORT SHOW.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) 29 September 1916: 8. Web. 5 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20125012.

114 “SOUTHPORT EVENT.” Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954) 27 April 1922: 7 (DAILY.). Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110005604.

115 ABC Radio National. “The digger image and Australian war memorials.” 30 October 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/the-digger-image-and-australian-war-memorials/6460948.

116 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, HINDE T 6266.

117 National Archives of Australia (NAA): B2455, ROSSER JOHN HALL.

118 “MR. ROSSER” South Coast Bulletin (Southport, Qld. : 1929 - 1954) 30 April 1947: 11. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188790215.; “JOHN ROSSER” South Coast Bulletin (Southport, Qld. : 1929 - 1954) 25 April 1951: 5. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225634453.; “FEDERAL POLICY CRITICISED” South Coast Bulletin (Southport, Qld. : 1929 - 1954) 18 April 1951: 4. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225634300.; “People Given Choice of Peace or War”” Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954) 24 April 1951: 2. Web. 13 Oct 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190441560.

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AcknowledgementsResearched and written by Dr Kevin Rains and Jane Austen (City of Gold Coast Office of City Architect, Heritage Unit); Kyla Stephan (City of Gold Coast Libraries, Local Studies) and Josh Tarrant, (Queensland Museum). Graphic design by Nicole Howell (City of Gold Coast). Valuable information and assistance has been provided by: Lesley Jenkins (Oral Historian); Jack Rudd; Gold Coast Australia Day Foundation and Albert Battery; Queensland State Archives and John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland).

Special thanks to local small museum project partners;

Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum Inc., Mudgeeraba

Southport Military Museum, Southport

Gold Coast and Hinterland Historical Museum Inc., Bundall

DisclaimerThe materials presented are made available by City of Gold Coast as an information source only. City of Gold Coast makes no statement, representation, or warranty about the accuracy, completeness or suitability for any purpose of any information contained. Any use of this information is at the user’s own risk.

City of Gold Coast disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages and costs that might be incurred as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way for any reason.

City of Gold Coast disclaims all liability for any damages arising from your access to, use of, or downloading of any material or part thereof from their publication or internet site.

This exhibition explores the effect of World War I on the Gold Coast. World War I had a profound impact on all of Australia, and while there are many national stories about the war, there are also those particular to individual communities. From Cables to Commemoration: the Gold Coast home front 1914 – 1918 looks at some of the key themes and stories which emerged from this tumultuous part of the region’s history.

This project is proudly supported by the Queensland Government.Proudly supported by