[ 5324 ] Australian NSW Housekeepers Emergency service badge

Description

5324 Australian NSW Housekeepers Emergency service badge, Established in 1947

The desirability of establishing an Emergency Housekeeper Service, along the lines of the NSW service, was first discussed at a meeting of the National Council of Women of the ACT in November 1943. Although there was support for the idea, nobody was willing to take the lead and it was not raised again until May 1945 when it became the Council’s first big project. The vice-president, Yseult Bailey, undertook to collect information about other State services and formulate a plan for presentation to the Department of the Interior.

Following preparatory work and approaches to government by the National Council of Women (ACT) and the Nursery Kindergarten Society, the Emergency Housekeeper Service commenced in Canberra in April 1947. A Committee of Management, chaired by the National Council of Women, was established in February 1947 with representatives from the Canberra Mothercraft Society, the Nursery Kindergarten Society and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). An organising secretary, Ella Buttsworth, was appointed in March 1947. In July 1977, responsibility for providing the service passed to the ACT Division of the Australian Red Cross Society