'Fated to a life of suffering': Graythwaite, the Australian Red Cross and returned soldiers, 1916-39

Abstract

This chapter concerns possibly the most vulnerable Australian soldiers to return from World War I - severely war-disabled men who were patients at Graythwaite. It explores how this institution and its largely volunteer workforce cared for ex-servicemen who had 'sacrificed their health and strength in the service of their country'. The Australian Red Cross, formed in August 1914 as a branch of the British Red Cross Society by the wife of the Governor-General, Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, was the primary voluntary non-profit organisation that established, funded and ran institutions for disabled soldiers in Australia both during and after the war. It established a range of convalescent homes and hospitals as well as 'Anzac Hostels' which catered for 'special types of cases', such as on a permanent or respite basis. The integral role that non-government organisations and institutions played in soldiers' repatriation has received scant attention from historians who focus largely on the role of the state, especially the federal government's Department of Repatriation, or 'Repat' as it was colloquially known. Using a range of case studies of patients and their caters at Graythwaite, the grand home of Thomas Dibbs in North Sydney which was bequeathed to the New South Wales government to be used as a convalescent home for disabled soldiers in I916, this chapter demonstrates that despite the Red Cross's best endeavours, the war was never over for the patients of Graythwaite. Although this chapter focuses on New South Wales, the story was replicated across Australia.