The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956)(about) |
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Wednesday 23 April 1919
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AUSTRALIANS WHO WERE
PRISONERS.
HALF-WAY HOUSE IN LONDON.
By ALICE GRANT "OSMAN*.
In a room looking over the gardens of
Buckingham Palace there is nowadays a serial ten pnrtj that is continued from duy to chiy. On the long tables, »util a few weeks ago, thcie used to be nothing more exciting than thousands ot index cm ds, maddening things to the uninitiated, but dramatic enough when you knew your way about them, because they repiesentcd the present histories of our Australian1 prisoner!, of war. .Now the owners of the names on the cards are coining gradually to Kngland, and the tables mc laden in- stead with ilowcis and flags and crackers in their honour, as well as sandwiches, sweets, and-it seems like magic-leal old fasluoucd plum cake.
"1 suppose your Inborn s arc over now the men "c eoming home.' I'heard an outsider remark to one oi the Australian gius who has given the whole of her time for so» oral years to this department ot our Ked Cioss. The gul in question was too kind to retort, out it was au idiotic query, for to run a thoroughly bubi ni'sslikc organisation, an. at the same time enteiliiiii every day a bundled guests or more trom 'J o clovK to li, beems as sttenu ous, an occupation as anyone could wish to lind. The hostesses seem to enjoy their self-imposed task, however, just its much as the guests, who, coming norn a tcdius and often ten ¡ble captivity m enemy lands, have found in the Austiahuu lied Cioss a little corner of London that is their own by right. Few of them know Eng- land well, or ha\e any peisonal friends heie, but they all know Miss Chbmley, by nnmo at least-they will tell you she is known in every prison camp and làwtrctte in Germany- and to when she tells them that they aro to regard the Ked Cross as their London home, and that there is a sitting-room always waiting for them, and tea any afternoon, they take her at her
word.
To Australians who, being outsiders, have seen most of the game, it has been a «oui ce of pride to hear experienced war-workeis speak of our Australian prisoners of-war department as the most human, as well as one of the most successful, of any of the organisations of the kind. Now that these men of ours are coming in hundreds back trom Germany, those of na who iiave seen and talked with many of them, realise anew how true that judgment is, and how the personality of one of our country- women has been largely responsible. Hy most people in "Melbourne -Miss Mary Chomley will bo remembered as a public spirited Austi alian, but to moie than 3,000 ¡neil of the A.1.1'1., and to those civilians in London, who have seen her work as head of the prisoneis of war department, she is fomcthing moie than that, and not only by her unselfish devotion, but by her tact nnd kindliness, and her broad and htiinnn outlook, she has made for herself a unique place in their regard. Hell Hope and the curt oflicial methods, which'every soldier so bitterly resents had no place in her regime, and the letters which, as the sponsor for their friends at home, she wrote to these boys in captivity, did more for them, perhaps, than anyone will over
know.
Every Australian detests 'patronage, and if that crowning impertinence lind ever ciept into their Red Cross letters, they would certainly not have been such cherished possessions to our Australian prisoners of war. Under Miss Chomlcy's baud the- Red Cross has been to Hiern not an nloof benefactor, but the understanding and sympathetic voice of their own people. "It wasn't only the Australians who talked »bout her," a South Australian private assured me eagerly, "all the camp did, and when there was a mail in, they'd come rushing mund-English Tommies, South Africans, Frenchies, and the whole lot-to know if thcie weie any letters from Miss Chomley. I'cnn tell von she was'a soit of queen.". That little .tributo"'« splen- didly deserved,, not only bv . Miss. Chom- ley,' but her > assistants, Mrs. Mordunnt Reid, of Perth; Miss Ethel Hage, of Mel- bourne; Miss Ruth Oliver/of Sydney; Miss Dorothy Moore, of "Perth; .Mis. Fnerlfe Cunninglininc, of Adelaide; Miss .Tessie Robinson, Miss Mm doch. Mis. ]''arrell, anti many-others. Of the hundreds of Aus- tralian girls doing war-work on both'sides of the world, none have^icndercd liner ser- vices than those, or done it with less osten- tation. As one of their, family of ,'',000 cx slnimed:-"I can tell you its tu.cinny to come to London where.you think you don't; know a living soul, after tlnce years .among the Huns, and find a pnrty of Indies who know nil, about; you'and wljere von come from"and h,owlmnn'y.ehildren yo'tt' have, and never once mix you up with the hundreds of, other, chaps who have come back loo. Beats mc how they do it."
Meanwhile much of the ordinary, work of the department goes on as usual, even though there are no more parcels to bo sent out. Five thousand letters came to the Rod Cross for the prisoners of war by the Australian mail recently, so a minia- ture post-office has become one of the'sidc lines, and all day Ion)? there, is * stream of anxious inquirers, hoping for a line from home. "I can't bear to tell them there are no letters," said an amateur postmis- tress,! as one boy went away disappointed. "I'd rather go and write them a letter each myself." , (It is evident the hardened vil- lanies of the ordinary post-office do cot ob- tain here.) There is a miniatuic bank, too, and every returning prisoner must bo given a full account of the money that has been held for him, and nn envelope con- taining whatever remains to his credit. He has an embarrassing way of wanting to tcfuse this. '
"It is your own money," his hostesses will point out. , I
"Cut think what I owe the Rtd Cross? Why, if it were not for you Indies we should
all'be dclid."
"And if it were not for you men we should all be Gormans," retorts .someone nmid omich laughter and a few protests; but the argument is quite a good one. The owing ÍB so obviously all on the other side.
From time to time yon hear many stories of exciting adventures and escapes. One man escaped with seven days' rations, but it was fourteen days before he at last reached Holland, half starving and half dead. Another lad crept out of his Ger- man camp on November 10, and reached the border two days later. In Holland,he met an old priest, who could speak English, and
told him ho was free.
"Couldn't think what ho was getting at," he told us. "Funny thing, but I never thought of peace."
Yet another man, interned in Holland, had seen the Kaiser's train come through. "Plastered oil over with guards," lie said, "But we wouldn't believe '¡ti was. -Bill, al- though they told us. It seemed too good to be true. ' " ,- )
The Red Cross is a plnco of strange meet- ings these days. Officers and men who hat Cj* not met since they were captnred, mates taken together badly wounded, and each believing the.other dead, meet again in the friendly rooms. . ?
"Thafchnp over there," a. sergeant told us, "w as in a sholl hole with mo just before they got us, and the last.I saw of him till 10 minutes ngo was a German carrying him away on his back." ' . . i
The other week three of our prisoners ot war came back to England unexpectedly, arriving nt A\-terloo station still in their prison clothes. By a lucky chance, Miss Ethel B"go was at the, station with some of thejr comrades, whom she wa? sceing.oll to *n-parly, out of 'town. The newcomers saw the turned-up hats, made for thom, and' wore -soon telling their adventures. Theye were Private A.'W. Beck,,Private Edison Waite, and Private Townsend, and they had cleaned some weeks ago from Ger- many jnto Bohemia. Bohcinia'by that time was tiled of war, so took care of the now comer.-) until the armistice with Austria was signed. Then they weie able to reach Mest«, cross to Venice,-and get a. steamet to Cherbourg and Southampton. They had an Irish comrade with them, whom Miss Bago directed to his own Care Committee, then she took her own fellow-countrymen in triumph to Horseferry road.
The Red Cross is doing everything pos- sible to make the returning prisoners of war comfortable and at home in London. Ac- commodation, even for soldiers who ought to have the fiist consideration,'^ n pressing problem nowadays, and Miss Charnley and her fellow-workers make a point of seeing that evciy one of their protegees has some- where ?.tillable to stay on an ¡val.
They ure arranging, too, for amusement nnd hospitality for them among their fellow Australians, particularly for-the younger lads and those who are strangers to 'London nnd have no friends hcie. It is the least
that can be done for men who have Miller«! I so much for Australia and for freedom.'