Cheer-Up Society


The Cheer-Up Society was a South Australian patriotic organisation founded during The Great War, whose aims were provision of creature comforts for soldiers in South Australia. Much of their activity was centred on the Cheer-up Hut, which they built behind the Adelaide railway station, and almost entirely staffed and organised by volunteers.
The organization was revived on a professional basis during the Second World War.

History

Following an editorial in The Register lamenting the lack of public support for the SA members of the AIF 2nd Contingent who were about to be posted overseas, Mrs A. Seager organised a "Cheer Up Our Boys" luncheon at Montefiore Hill, staffed by women volunteers, for the 1,100 soldiers who were completing their training at the Morphettville camp.
This was followed by a Christmas dinner at the new Oaklands camp, and Sunday teas every week through January.
The "Cheer-Up Society" emerged a few weeks later. It initially consisted of Stella M. Baker and Mrs Seager and their network of volunteers, but with members of the public clamoring to join, and with money and goods beginning to arrive, it was necessary to put the organization on a firm footing. In February Mrs Baker resigned as president and William John Sowden, editor of The Register and a man well known as a charity organiser, was elected to the post. Mrs. George Aldridge and Misses E. S. Abbott and Winifred Scott have been named as early executives.
Sometime shortly after, Sowden appointed an interim committee. Sir John Gordon, at a subsequent General Meeting protested the lack of women on the Board of Management. If there were no ladies in the movement, he said, there would be no Cheer-up Society, and he was prepared to join in a revolution next year to have a few of those energetic workers on the board. No revolution occurred and the board elected in 1917 had four extra, male, members.
After completion of the Cheer-up Hut, Mrs. Seager was appointed a salaried officer of the society, as manager of the Cheer-up Hut, in addition to the office of Organizer, so that her undivided attention could be given to the affairs of the society. The Cheer-up Hut became the office of the society.
By December 1915, there were over 300 members in Adelaide and over 10,000 members in 86 branches in the country and suburbs. Semaphore branch welcomed troops arriving at the Outer Harbor; the Alberton branch devoted itself to the camp at Cheltenham. The most active country branches were in 1916 named as Aldinga, Angaston, Ardrossan, Balaklava, Blyth, Burra, Bute, Crystal Brook, Freeling, Gawler, Jamestown, Kadina, Lameroo, Laura, McLaren Flat, Marrabel, Morgan, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, Narracoorte, Nuriootpa, Orroroo, Petersburg, Port Augusta, Port Elliot, Port Pirie, Robertstown, Strathalbyn, Tallunda Flat, Tanunda, Tumby Bay, Victor Harbor, Wallaroo, Willson's River and Willunga. Many were not affiliated with Cheer-Up Society, Incorporated, and were not under its rule.
Funds were raised from a multitude of sources, from donations and "button day" collections, events like "Egyptian Fair" and "Dickens Fair" and travelling concerts organised by Louis W. Yemm. The books and accounts of the society were scrutinized by two auditors, and half yearly balance sheets and full financial statements submitted to the executive committee and to the annual general meeting. The Society was incorporated around August 1915.
Other activities include
February? 1915December 1915December 1916December 1917December 1918December 1919
PresidentW. J. Sowden———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
Organizer / Gen. SecMrs A. Seager———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
Board SecretaryJames W. Jones———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
TreasurerEdward V. ClarkGordon E. SunterEdward I. Lloyd———do———E. B. Grandfield———do———
Ass. TreasurerMrs Hay
Vice-PresidentF. J. Mills———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
Vice-PresidentGeorge McEwin———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
Vice-PresidentN. W. L. Eddington———do——————do——————do———
Board memberA. H. Sandford———do———Capt. CoyleHon. H. Peake———do———A. G. Tender
Board memberBenjamin Benny———do——————do——————do——————do——————do———
Board memberG. A. W. AlexanderN. W. L. EddingtonA. G. RymillC. R. J. Glover———do———
Board memberLouis W. Yemm———do——————do———Stanley Price Weir———do——————do———
Board memberCrawford Vaughan———do——————do——————do———
Board memberC. E. Owen Smyth———do——————do——————do——————do———
Board memberH. J. Henderson———do——————do——————do——————do———
Board memberJ. Lancelot Stirling———do——————do———
Board memberCmdr O. L. A. Burford, R.A.N.———do———Capt. C. J. Clare R.A.N.———do———
Board memberBrig.-Gen. IrvingBrig. Gen ForsythBrig. Gen. Antill———do———
Board memberIsaac Isaacs———do——————do———
Board memberJ. Q. Bruce———do———
Board memberW. A. Duncan———do———
Board memberSir John Gordon———do———
Board memberA. G. Fenner———do———
Board memberEdward I. Lloyd
Board memberE. V. H. Martin
Board memberMajor W. L. Stuart
Board memberAlex McCulloch
AuditorW. N. TwissGordon Sunter———do———
AuditorA. R. S. Craig———do——————do———

;Significant General Meetings
The first "hut", erected around April 1915, was a borrowed tent behind the City Baths, with the permission of its lessee/manager, Charles Bastard. They then moved to rented premises in Bentham Street, but soon found that it was too small, and a purpose-built structure was the only way forward.
The Railways department offered a plot of land behind the railway buildings and close to the City Baths at nominal rent as long as the land wasn't needed for railway business.
The design, by H. J. Henderson, was little more than a model, but on that basis Henry Slade and his team finished the job under budget and in time for the Official Opening on 4 November 1915, the first anniversary of the society.
The site was ideal, with an outlook over Torrens Lake, the Rotunda, Creswell Gardens, and North Adelaide.
Much of its cost was met by country branches of the Society, notably Burra, which contributed £761, in recognition of which the main hall of the Cheer-up Hut was named "The Burra Hall".
The history of the Hut henceforth takes two paths, which can only be reconciled by assuming two separate buildings:
;1 Removal
;2 Repurposing
The title "Cheer-up Hut" continued to be used informally for the re-purposed building, and with the Great Depression was used to provide hot meals to unemployed ex-servicemen, organised by the redoubtable Mrs. A Seager.
Another initiative of Mrs Seager, the Arch straddled Station Road, a private thoroughfare serving the Railway Station, which passed the Cheer-up Hut before emerging at King William Road. Built at a cost of £1,000, construction of the Arch began in October 1918, and was officially opened 29 January 1919. Believed to be the first such structure erected in Australia in recognition of the Anzac forces, it was demolished June 1925 after Railways Department declared it unsafe. During its few years of existence many tens of thousands of servicemen passed through its portal.

Returned Soldiers' Association

A Returned Soldiers Association was formed in 1909 for the benefit of veterans of the Boer War. The organization, later titled S.A.R.S.A., had little public support and vanished.
In October 1915 at the instance of W. J. Sowden a new organization of the same name was founded to serve the interests of servicemen returning from Europe and the Near East. The President and two Vice-Presidents were well known for their work with the Cheer-ups, and a mutually beneficial relationship was expected.
A magazine was inaugurated around March 1916 and seven issues were published in that year, largely the work of Cheer-up volunteers, and for much of its early history edited by F. J. Mills in his spare time. Monthly circulation was over 2,000 copies in 1917, and on occasion as many as 5,000 were sold.
In January 1918 Donald Kerr MM LLB succeeded Mills as editor.
From August 1918 the magazine was subtitled "Official organ of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia, South Australian Branch".
Most copies of volumes 3 and 4 of the magazine may be viewed .

Violet Day

Another innovation by Mrs. Seager, Violet Days were intended as an opportunity to remember the war dead, and as a fund-raising mechanism for the Cheer-up Hut. Citizens were encouraged to wear a violet in a buttonhole or under a brooch, and businesses to have some kind of display in purple and white. Cheer-Up Society volunteers would throng the city, meeting every tram, bus and train, offering for sale bunches of the flower and souvenir badges.
Always held on a Friday, Adelaide's traditional "Button Day", Violet Days were held on 2 July 1915, 25 August 1916, 29 June 1917, 21 June 1918, 20 June 1919 and 9 July 1920.
From 1921 the organisation of the occasion was shared by a large number of patriotic organisations and renamed "Violet Memory Day".
W. J. Sowden was elected president of the new organisation and F. J. Mills hon. secretary, so the Cheer-up team remained to the fore.
The sale of flowers and buttons was dropped in favour of memorial services variously held at the Jubilee Exhibition Building or the Adelaide Town Hall.
Violet Memory Day has long since been dropped as an act of remembrance in favour of Armistice Day, observed throughout Australia on 11 November, with a traditional minute's silence at 11 am. The floral emblem of Armistice Day, also of Anzac Day, is the Flanders poppy.

Personnel

Notes on some workers, for many of whom no Wikipedia article exists:
A large honour roll, designed by Miss Blanche Francis in Australian blackwood, on which the names of all the women workers were inscribed, hung in the Cheer-up Hut.