Queensland Patriotic Fund

Formed in 1900, the Queensland Patriotic Fund was responsible for raising funds and fund administration to provide financial and other assistance to those who were serving or had served in the armed forces of Australia, as well as offering support to their families.[1]

Formation

On 8 January 1900 a meeting was held at the Brisbane Town Hall with the purpose of amalgamating various patriotic funds throughout Queensland, under the control and supervision of one general fund, the Queensland Patriotic Fund. The first central committee of the Fund featured numerous prominent Queensland politicians and businessmen, including James Dickson as president; Robert Philp as treasurer and George Jackson as secretary.[2]

At this meeting Dickson drafted the following resolution -

"...The duties of such committee will be to extend the operation of the fund so as to embrace all parts of the colony, and to provide for the proper distribution of the funds amongst the disabled Queensland volunteers and dependents of such Queensland volunteers as may unfortunately lose their lives in the execution of their duty, and whose dependents, in the opinion of the committee, are in need of assistance".[3]

World War I

During World War I, the Queensland Patriotic Fund were active in organising funding raising activities as well as providing assistance to returned sick, wounded and disabled soldiers and their dependents.[4] In August 1916, all state based patriotic funds, including the Queensland Patriotic Fund were placed under the coordination of the Australian Comforts Fund.[5]

Fundraising initiatives

A number of fundraising initiatives were held in Queensland during the World War I where all or part of the monies raised were contributed towards the Queensland Patriotic Fund. These included:

  • Patriotic concert by Brisbane Liedertafel at Centennial Hall - 22 September 1914[6]
  • Patriotic Carnival, Brisbane - 30 November 1914[7]
  • Queensland's Do Without Week and Second Grand Patriotic Carnival - 26 August 1916[8]
  • Heroes' Day - 1 December 1917[4][9]

The Fund also helped establish the Golden Casket lottery.

References
  1. "ID2381, Patriotic Fund of Queensland". Queensland State Archives. Queensland State Archives. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  2. "THE QUEENSLAND PATRIOTIC FUND". Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922). 10 January 1900. Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "PATRIOTIC FUNDS". The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933). 18 June 1901. Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Report and statement of receipts and expenditure. Brisbane: Queensland Patriotic Fund. 1917. p. 5.
  5. "Australian Comforts Fund (1916 - 1920)". Australian Women's Register. The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) in conjunction with The University of Melbourne. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  6. Hamilton, Robyn (24 December 2015). "Digitised@SLQ: Souvenir programme, Patriotic Concert. Brisbane Liedertafel". Queensland's World War 1 Centenary blog. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  7. Miller, Simon (28 March 2014). "Digitised@SLQ - Patriotic Carnival 1914". Queensland's World War 1 Centenary blog. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  8. Meyers, Lynn (4 June 2014). "Digitised@SLQ "Queensland Do Without Week and Second Grand Patriotic Carnival". Queensland's World War 1 Centenary blog. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  9. "Heroes' Day". The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 3 December 1917. Retrieved 11 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

Further reading
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