Many stories of the wartime experiences of Australian men, women and children can be found in the National Library of Australia's collection. Several of these personal stories – soldiers, nurses, politicians, artists, writers and families on the home front – are told in the library's Keepsakes: Australians and the Great War exhibition. One of them focuses on Mary Booth (1869-1956), a fierce patriot who worked tirelessly to support the war effort and, after the war, to protect the traditions of Anzac.
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Born in Sydney, Mary Booth qualified as a medical practitioner at the University of Edinburgh, returning to Australia at the turn of the century. Most of her medical work was for various public institutions where she was possibly best known for her hygiene lectures to girls' schools and the establishment of school medical services.
After the outbreak of war, Booth, like thousands of other Australian women, worked enthusiastically to support a cause she passionately believed in. She was an active member of several organisations as well as setting up and effectively managing a number of others. In the process she made a significant contribution towards the emergence of a new sector of the Australian economy – the provision of comforts to Australian soldiers and the victims of war, largely by female volunteer workers.
A brief look at the organisations she was involved with indicates that it was in effect a full-time occupation for Booth.
As early as November 1914 she had organised the Babies' Kit Society which, in March 1915, shipped 17 bales of infants' clothing to London for distribution to "British and Belgian infants". In June 1915, she established the Soldiers Club in the old Royal Hotel in George Street, Sydney, which for five years served as a central meeting place for soldiers waiting to go overseas or recently returned from active service. Although no alcohol was served, the club proved a great success, catering to about 1000 soldiers a week. As a committee member of the Universal Service League, formed in September 1915, she was a vigorous supporter of compulsory war service for all fit men and for conscription.
The pace of Booth's patriotic works did not slacken with the end of the war.
On Anzac Day in 1921 she and her followers formed the Anzac Fellowship of Women to promote the comradeship of women who had been engaged in wartime work, foster the spirit of Anzac, promote and protect the Anzac tradition, and to welcome British migrants to Australia. This was the only civilian organisation granted the right to use the name Anzac, an indication of the high esteem she was held in by Prime Minister Billy Hughes. In 1931, the fellowship set up the Anzac Festival Committee, to foster the Anzac spirit through the arts rather than through sport. A cultural competition was run in schools with an annual concert on Anzac eve where prize poems and songs were performed.
An office-bearer of the New Settlers' League of Australia and a member of the Women's Migration Council of New South Wales, Booth was an ardent advocate of increased immigration, to maintain "our own British Stock" and to counteract communism. More than a propagandist, however, she gave practical support to newly arrived migrants with the Anzac Fellowship establishing the (British) Ex Service Women's Club; setting up the Empire Service Club for boys migrating under the Dreadnought scheme in 1923; and publishing a popular journal, the New Settler.
The story of Mary Booth's patriotic service is represented in the National Library's manuscript collections in the form of posters, letters, photographs, badges etc. A small selection of this material is displayed in Keepsakes.
Denis Shephard was a member of the curatorial team that developed Keepsakes. He volunteers in the Map Room at the National Library of Australia.
Keepsakes: Australians and the Great War runs until July 19.
