The Junior Red Cross Society was formally established in Australia in 1918, as part of the Australian Red Cross. It was a children’s and youth division, which had regional committees. Various branches of the Junior Red Cross Society set up and ran Homes in various locations around Australia, as part of its peacetime programs. These Junior Red Cross Homes were for the temporary care of children of Australian servicemen, needing to convalesce from illness or a holiday. In the 1970s, the organisation was known as Red Cross Youth. In 1995, the Red Cross established a new Youth and Education Service (YES).
The Junior Red Cross Society was founded by Eleanor MacKinnon, and two children’s Homes in New South Wales were named in her memory. According to Robinson, after it was established in 1918, the Juniors supported soldiers, but gradually began to support ‘children of soldiers, children who were sick, and children in need in their own right’ (Australian Women’s Register, 2004).
An article from 1946 states that the establishment of hostels and convalescent homes for children was part of the Junior Red Cross’ peacetime programme (Weekly Times).
The Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser, 1951, reported that the Junior Red Cross Homes were maintained primarily for children of ex-servicemen, however other sick and needy children and new Australians between the ages of four and fourteen were cared for in the Homes. The average length of stay was six weeks.
Writing about the Cudgelo Junior Red Cross Home which at that time was located in Yass due to the Second World War, the Yass Tribune-Courier described the typical children who were placed in these Homes:
The children are all in need of country change and restorative care, beyond the means of their parents, and it is hoped that the same success will attend the running of the home at “Linton” as the Red Cross has achieved with its other homes, where many sons and daughters of fighting fathers have been built up to normal healthy, by timely care and treatment (23 July 1942).
Another article from August 1942 described a group of girls staying at the Home in Yass:
These little girls are all under fourteen years and, sad comment on our times, some of them are suffering from nerves. Practically all of them put on weight at the home and return to Sydney with new strength and surely a happier outlook on life … The happiness and new health brought into the children’s lives is due to the generosity of Mrs.Triggs [who donated the use of a wing at her home, “Linton”] and the splendid organization of the Red Cross Society. The members of the Yass Junior Red Cross play their part, visiting the children every Friday and taking them gifts (Yass Tribune-Courier).
The Junior Red Cross Society ceased to exist around 1995.
