Admiralty congratulations abroad, a call out and a concert at home

Reports of the Dardanelles campaign appeared regularly in Queensland newspapers in the weeks following the Gallipoli landing. On this day in 1915, the Brisbane Courier published congratulations from Winston Churchill, regarding progress in the Dardanelles.

Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty

FLEET'S INTENSE ADMIRATION.

LONDON, Sunday.

Mr Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, has expressed to the representatives of Australia and New Zealand the congratulations of the Admiralty on the brilliant and memorable achievements of their troops in the Dardanelles, adding that the Admiralty commanding the British fleet had telegraphed the fleet's intense admiration of their feat of arms.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20022344

On 1st May, The Queenslander had published a series of telegraphs (dated April 22 to April 27) from London, Paris, Athens, Sofia of the events before and after the landings in the Dardanelles.

On the home front, the Brisbane Courier published a call out for assistance, asking Queenslanders to contribute to patriotic funds in support of the war effort. An article published on 3rd May, p.7, listed the great variety of funds established, and some of the more handsome donations received so far. The total for the appeal stood at £59,820, with more contributions expected:

Belgian Relief Fund

Foodstuffs Fund

Milk for Babies of Britain Fund

Nurses' Equipment Fund

Travelling Kitchen Fund

Infantry Volunteer Band Fund

Servian Fund

Mr. Cotton's special appeal

Volunteer Patriotic Fund

Aeroplane Fund

Motor Ambulance Fund

Polish Victims' Relief Fund

Red Cross Fund

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20010221

In addition to ardent fundraising, a concert in aid of the Belgian Relief Fund was held at Taringa, in the Masonic Hall. According to the article in the Brisbane Courier on 10th May,  the concert was a great success, with the Hall crowded to the doors, and decorated for the occasion by a Mr Muir, who supplied the flags of the Allies for this purpose. Auction sales and collections during the evening raised £16/11/ and £45/10/ for the Belgian fund. Performers included The Lyric Quartette Girls' Methodist Guild (club swingers), YMCA squad (gymnasts), Juvenile Rechabites (tableau), and the Taringa Orchestra. The Taringa Masonic Lodge lent the hall free of cost.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20048019

Robyn Hamilton - QANZAC100 Content Curator, State Library of Queensland