The Australian Women's Register

The first Constitution of the Australian branch of the British Red Cross Society made assistance in great public disaster, calamity or need one of its key objects, subject to the approval of its national Council. In an emergency, the President could authorise rendering of assistance, as Lady Helen Munro Ferguson did in World War I. The Australian Red Cross assisted in civil disasters within Australia after World War I, in terms of the influenza epidemic, but more so after World War II. According to Noreen Minogue, the Western Australian Division of the Australian Red Cross Society was the first State to move strongly into Civil Preparedness for Disaster. By the mid-1960s, however, each State Division of the Australian Red Cross had some affiliation with the statutory authorities in emergency and disaster services. Although State Divisions initially handled disasters on their own, large-scale events, like the Tasmanian bushfires of 1967 required the assistance of other Divisions. As a result, the Australian Red Cross Society formed a National Disaster Relief Committee, and the Disaster Services Department was formed in 1975. Its national officers focused on registration and care of victims, the provision of trained personnel, and a uniform pattern of disaster organisation and training throughout Australia. In the 1980s, an expert national and divisional committee was formed in Disaster Preparedness to advise, coordinate and support the development of services, known as the Disaster Services Advisory Committee in 2004. The area was often referred to as emergency services, and sometimes came under different Departments, such as the national Department of Services and Membership in 1999-2000. The Australian Red Cross’s Strategy 2005 again targeted disaster and emergency services as a core activity, with plans to improve the focus and coordination of the service, provide a national registration system and deliver effective disaster services which meet communities’ needs.