Civilian clothing for returned soldiers
Towards the end of the war the Australian Red Cross focused on helping integrate returned service personnel into work and society. This clip shows women at the Red Cross making and sorting clothes for returned soldiers.
Civilian clothing for returned soldiers
Towards the end of the war the Australian Red Cross focused on helping integrate returned service personnel into work and society. This clip shows women at the Red Cross making and sorting clothes for returned soldiers.
Year: c1919
Length: 00:55
Source: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
Catalogue Reference: NFSA title:14250
Location: Sydney, Australia
Subject: Red Cross
According to the Cairns Post in October 1917, letters distributed to Red Cross branches appealed for them to ‘collect and send in quantities of men's second-hand clothing and boots. Numbers of discharged soldiers, who have obtained work, call in at the Red Cross rooms for working clothes, and find second-hand garments a great boon - boots and slippers are also asked for.’ The Red Cross also organised maternity outfits and bedlinens to aid those in need.
Clothing distribution was suspended when the ‘Spanish Flu’ epidemic struck as a preventative measure against spreading the virus.