Townsville Soldiers' Rest Room - a "home-like refuge"

On 10 May 1916, a meeting was held at the Town Hall in Townsville to establish a "Soldier's Rest Room League". The object of the League was to set up a dedicated place where soldiers (either leaving or returning) could spend the day in comfort while waiting for transport to their destinations. Only 9 men attended the meeting, but it must have been an important issue for the women of the city, because 50 women attended the meeting. Discussion centred around a suitable venue for the proposed rest room, and the need to appeal to the public for donations of crockery, chairs, literature etc.

The Townsville Soldiers' Rest Room is pictured on the left of this photograph.
This photo dates to around 1918. 
Photo: James Cook University Library North Queensland Photographic Collection, 
NQID 2201.

Within a few days, the executive of the Soldiers' Rest Room League had secured the rooms at one time occupied by the YMCA, above the offices of the gasworks, at the corner of Flinders and Stanley Streets. The rooms were described as "commodious, cool and central". It was anticipated that ladies from the Red Cross would provide afternoon and morning tea for the soliders, all at no cost. And all soldiers, from all centres, were welcome to visit.

On 30 May 1916, the Townsville Daily Bulletin reported on the unofficial opening of the new Soldiers' Rest Room:

"On Monday the soldiers’ rest rooms on Stanley-street were unofficially opened. The rooms took on a military character as soon as they were opened, one young soldier who had been given a card of invitation on landing from the Bingera following the secretary up the stairs as she opened up in the morning. Others followed until by 11 o’clock eleven men, mostly from Cairns and the west, were present, and all through the day others came and went. Morning and afternoon tea was dispensed and the men filled in the time reading, playing games, writing letters, and talking. It was noticed that the men who took walks about the town soon returned and evidently looked upon the room as what it was, a home-like refuge from the streets. The appreciation shown was very keen. One of the visitors, only 19 now, had served at Gallipoli and been invalided home for good with a bullet wound behind his ear and enteric fever. His three brothers are still in the firing line and he was anxious to return, but was refused by the medical authorities. He spent the whole stay at the rooms and left by train for the west at night, and had the room not been open would have had to walk the streets all day. The rooms, which are very suitable for the purpose, include a large reading room, writing room, room for soldiers to leave their luggage for the day, a large bathroom, games room, broad verandah, and kitchen, etc., for the workers. The ladies’ committee, Mesdames W. E. Blackwell, H. Schmidt, G. F. Williams, Ranwell, Christian and Miss Goss, were in attendance for the day, and, other ladies will be in attendance during the week. As the rooms will be opened all the week, including Sunday, from 7 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night, it will need a lot of helpers to prevent it becoming a tax on the few, so it is hoped that ladies who can give a day or part of a day will send their names in to the secretary, Mrs Christian, or any member of the committee. Those doing so are requested to state what day and hours will suit them. Each lady is expected to bring in a cake and some scones or sandwiches. In all 32 men were present at the rooms through the day."

Soldiers obviously found the facility useful, as more than 100 attended the Soldiers' Rest Room in its first week of operation. According to one of the League's executive members:

"It means a good deal to many of them who are entire strangers to know that they have such a place to go where they can spend the day in comfort instead of having to wander idly about the town". 

QATB Time Capsule

When a building in Sturt Street was demolished in 1968, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered to inspect the contents of a time capsule, unearthed from within a cavity in the foundation stone of the building.

Inspecting the contents of a time capsule, uncovered during demolition of the QATB building in Sturt Street, Townsville, September 1968.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Local History Collection.

The building was the Townsville Ambulance centre, on the corner of Sturt and Stanley Streets and the time capsule was really just a rusty old tin that had been sealed with solder and placed in the foundation stone of the building when it was built in 1904.

The tin contained copies of the Townsville Daily Bulletin and the Townsville Evening Star, both dated Saturday, September 25, 1904, and the first three annual reports of the Townsville Ambulance Centre, which had been established in 1900.

Looking over an edition of the Townsville Daily Bulletin from 1904.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

Along with the newspapers and documents was a glazed, earthenware whisky jar, although it’s not clear from reports at the time whether this was empty or still filled with whisky when it was recovered.

At a special ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the ambulance building in 1904, Mr F. Johnson, a life member of the QATB, had the honour of tapping the stone into place.

According to the Townsville Daily Bulletin, as the foundation stone was lowered into position in the south-eastern corner of the building, Mr Johnson “tapped it in the orthodox fashion with a trowel”, before declaring it “well and truly laid”.

A plaque inscribed with the names of QATB office bearers, fashioned by monumental masons Melrose and Fenwick, was also attached to the foundation stone.  Unfortunately, when the building was being demolished in 1968, vandals smashed the plaque on the foundation stone and it had to be patched up.

Inspecting the contents of a time capsule, uncovered during demolition of the QATB building in Sturt Street, Townsville, September 1968.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Local History Collection.

Despite being only a little over 60 years old, the building which had been designed by Townsville architects Messrs Eaton, Bates and Polin, was undergoing demolition because it had been sold to the MLC company, who intended to erect a modern, six-storey office block on the site.

Townsville Ambulance Station, corner Sturt and Stanley Streets, c. 1910.
Photo:  CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

The Townsville branch of the QATB had moved to a new, purpose-built premises in Hugh Street, Currajong, in May 1967, after having outgrown its Sturt Street home.

Built at a cost of just over $100,000, the new headquarters in Hugh Street consisted of four buildings - an administration block, plant room, superintendent’s residence and a garage that could accommodate ten “modern, well-equipped” ambulance vehicles.  These vehicles were Holden station wagons.

The centre would now be centrally located in a position that could better service a rapidly growing city, with easy access to the main arterial roads.

But the cost of the new centre was a concern for the president of the QATB, Mr J. A. Turner, who believed that the burden of raising funds for the ambulance service rested too heavily on the ambulance personnel themselves.

“These men are forced to run raffles and other fund raising schemes to provide this service to the community,” Mr Turner said.

While the service did receive some government support, Mr Turner felt that if every wage earner in Queensland contributed ten cents per week, that would then be enough to guarantee a free ambulance service for the state.