RAHS Day Lecture: The Red Cross and the Liverpool Field Hospital

This presentation will examine Red Cross work at the Liverpool Field Hospital, where the military was overwhelmed in the early months of the war. At its inception in 1914, the Red Cross's priority in Australia was the care of sick and wounded soldiers under the inspired leadership of Lady Helen Munro Ferguson. At the Liverpool Camp, the Red Cross stepped in to assist at the field hospital. Questions were asked in Federal Parliament about the atrocious camp conditions, and the Rich Royal Commission was set up in mid-1915. While the Red Cross did not escape criticism, conditions at the camp gradually improved by the end of 1915. Much of the Red Cross's work was groundbreaking and received little recognition at the time or since.