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Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) (1914 - )

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Function: Community organisation

Voluntary Aid Detachments were established during World War I by members of the Australian Red Cross and the Order of St John. Members received instruction in first aid and home nursing from the St John Ambulance Association. Initially they worked without pay in hospitals and convalescent homes alongside doctors and nurses. After the war the voluntary service continued. Recruits were drawn from the local area by invitation from a serving member. During the World War II Voluntary Aid Detachment members were given more medical training, but they were not fully qualified nurses. Voluntary Aides worked in convalescent hospitals, on hospital ships and in the blood bank, as well as on the home front.

In New South Wales Voluntary Aid Detachments are now part of the Voluntary Aid Service Corps (VASC). To become a member of the Corps, volunteers must hold a current Senior First Aid Certificate. Members provide free first aid at major sporting and cultural events as well as assistance in times of disaster.


Details

The Australian Red Cross began organising Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) nation-wide as part of Lady Helen Munro Ferguson's appeal "to the women of Australia" at the onset of World War I. They soon came to be largely comprised of women. Their scheme followed the policy of the British War Office, and the British Red Cross Society, of which Australia was developing a branch. A number of women had also enrolled in a Voluntary Aid Detachment in 1914 as part of the formation of the New South Wales branch of the British Red Cross Society. By August 1915, the Australian branch of the British Red Cross reported that Victoria and Tasmania also had Voluntary Aid Detachments. In addition Special Voluntary Aid Detachment Committees had been formed in each State Division, and a Committee of the Central Council had been formed. Recognised by the Military, the Voluntary Aid Detachments were at their peak in World War I and World War II, providing first aid, nursing assistance, comforts, domestic assistance and other supports for returned and wounded soldiers. In between the two World Wars, they continued their care for ex-soldiers and their families, raised funds, and moved into civil hospitals, homes and health associations. In 1928, they became a technical reserve of the Army Medical Corps, administered under the Minister of Defence through a Joint Central Council. After World War II, they extended their civilian service, which included the assistance of new immigrants. In January 1948, direct control of the Voluntary Aid Detachments was returned to the Australian Red Cross and St John Ambulance Society. Yet many Voluntary Aid Detachments folded as time went on, States withdrew from this area, and staff worked in a range of other Australian Red Cross services. In New South Wales, however, the Voluntary Aid Detachments were renamed and revamped as the Voluntary Aid Service Corps in 1967, where they still remain active.

Events
1916 - 1918

Australian Government recognised the Voluntary Aid Detachments as auxiliaries to the Medical Service, and Voluntary Aids began working in military hospitals in Australia

1918 - 1939

After the war the voluntary service continued in hospitals throughout Australia, drawing recruits from local areas by invitation from a serving member

1928 - 1948

Voluntary Aid Detachments became a technical reserve of the Army Medical Corps, administered under the Minister of Defence through a Joint Central Council

1939 - 1940

Due to labour shortages Voluntary Aids once again began working in the military hospital system

January 1940

Voluntary Aids began receiving payment for their duties

1941

The role of Voluntary Aid Detachments expanded and they are now employed in a wide range of positions, including as clerks, ambulance drivers, seamstresses, storekeepers, radiographers, dental orderlies and laundry staff

June 1941

Approval granted for Voluntary Aids to serve overseas

October 1941

200 Voluntary Aids embark for the Middle East.

October 1941

During World War II Voluntary Aid Detachment members serve in Cairo, Gaza and Ceylon as well as on hospital ships

March 1942

The Military Board approved the call-up of Voluntary Aids, and the Voluntary Aid Detachment began to be administered as a service within the Army Medical Service

December 1942

The Australian Army Medical Women's Service established to distinguish between full-time military Voluntary Aids and those attached on a voluntary basis to the aid organisations

January 1948

Direct control of the Voluntary Aid Detchments was returned to the Australian Red Cross and St John Ambulance Society

1967

Voluntary Aid Detachments were renamed and revamped as the Voluntary Aid Service Corps

 
Sources used to compile this entry: Just wanted to be there : Australian Service Nurses 1899-1999 researched and written by Richard Reid, From Blue to Khaki : The enlisted voluntary aids and others who became members of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service and served from 1941-1951 by Betty J Mount-Batten, Red Cross Vas : A History of the VAD Movement in New South Wales by Melanie Oppenheimer, Look what you started Henry by Leon Stubbings, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 : Australia During the War Vol. XI edited by Ernest Scott, http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vad.htm accessed 20030812 and http://minister.dva.gov.au/media_releases/2001/august/history119.htm accessed 20030722.
 
Related Entries for Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD)

Previous and Subsequent Entities

 1914 - Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD)
       1942 - 1951 Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS)
             1948 - Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC)

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Published Resources

Books

  • Goodman, R D, VAD's in peace and war : the history of Voluntary Aid Detachments in Australia during the 20th century, Boolarong, Brisbane, 1991, 231 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Minogue, Noreen, The Red Cross, 1914-1975 : years of change, [Royal Historical Society of Victoria], [Melbourne], 1976. [ Details... ]
  • Oppenheimer, Melanie, Red Cross VAs: A history of the VAD movement in New South Wales, Ohio Productions, Riverwood, New South Wales, 1999, 212 pp. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

See also

  • Australian Red Cross Society, 50 years service to humanity, [Melbourne], [1964]. [ Details... ]
  • Australian War Memorial, 'Unsung heroes : Australia's military medical personnel', in 1918 Australians in France, http://www.awm.gov.au/1918/medical/. [ Details... ]
  • Barker, Marianne, Nightingales in the mud : the digger sisters of the Great War 1914 - 1918, Allen & Unwin, North Sydney, 1989, 205 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Oppenheimer, Melanie, ''The Best P.M. for the Empire'? Lady Helen Munro Ferguson and the Australian Red Cross Society, 1914-1920', Australian Historical Studies, vol. 119, April, 2002, pp. 108-124. [ Details... ]

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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Anne Heywood and Penny Robinson
Created: 22 July 2003
Modified: 19 July 2004

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 23 December 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0491b.htm

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