Sister Susie’s - Another Connection

 By Kate Davis - Casey Cardinia Libraries

Last month’s article told the story of Jack Dawson, a Beaconsfield local who fought during World War Two and was taken and died as a prisoner of war in Burma. Jack’s family had a special connection to a local Beaconsfield fundraising club, Sister Susies, which raised funds throughout the war for the benefit of those serving overseas. Jack’s two sisters, Beryl and Rena, were heavily involved in the club - something mentioned by Darla Adamson during the Adamson’s interview, in which Jack’s own story was uncovered (read more about this here). This article discusses the development and success of the club, using newspaper excerpts found on Trove.

In the Adamson’s interview, Mrs. Darla Adamson mentioned the eagerness with which all Beaconsfield residents contributed to fundraising and relief efforts for local soldiers. Darla spoke about the Sister Susies club, in which women from around the district would gather and organise functions and balls. According to Darla, these women would send parcels with all sorts of goods, including socks, balaclavas, and even Christmas cakes during the festive season! It is perhaps unsurprising then that Beryl and Rena Dawson were heavily involved in the club, on account of their experience as sisters of a serviceman. 

Sister Susies clubs have been a longstanding method of organising funds and goods for soldiers overseas. The first instance of the Beaconsfield Club appears in the local newspaper, ‘The Dandenong Journal’ in 1942. Reading the article below, it becomes apparent that the Beaconsfield Sister Susies club was founded in 1941.

                                                                    Published in September 1942.

At that point, while the club was relatively small in membership, their fundraising efforts were nevertheless quite successful, raising £10. This is equivalent to approximately $17.50 AUD at that time, and worth around $675 AUD today. In a nation recovering from the Great Depression and experiencing another world war, this amount is quite impressive.

The next article regarding the club was published in April 1944, which has insight into the origins of the Sister Susies club. They were not a random collection of women but were formed predominantly from the Younger Set – a sub-group of the Country Women’s Association in Beaconsfield. The Younger Set themselves in Beaconsfield had been formed in 1931, and were, as the name suggests, younger CWA members (1). Clearly too, the club’s success was only growing; raising £18 at this function, equivalent to around $1,200 today.

                                                                  Published April 1944.

This prosperity came in the same year as the club’s fourth birthday - a joyous affair, as noted in the article below. Undoubtedly, a sizeable amount of funds for servicemen would have been raised at this birthday ball too.

                                                            Published August 1944.

Over the next year, the club’s achievements seemed to increase tenfold. As the war effort increased, nudging ever closer to the end of the war, it seems that morale was building on the home front. This appears to have contributed to increases in donations at Sister Susie functions. The Sister Susies fifth birthday ball in August of 1945 raised £200 - equivalent to $13,500 today – quite a feat! The article also mentions Beryl Dawson’s role in the club, as the President. At this point, Jack’s death had been announced in the local newspaper, and so the Dawson family knew that he was no longer alive. It seems that the Dawson sisters, particularly Beryl, channeled their efforts into continuing to raise funds for all the remaining soldiers still fighting. For a family that had lost a member in such a tragic way, it is remarkable that the Dawson sisters continued to contribute heavily to the success of the club.

                                                            Published August 1945.

Then, in June of 1946 with the war well and truly finished, the Beaconsfield Sister Susies club dissolved. There was no longer such a pressing need for funds to support soldiers and so Sister Susies members were released from the undoubtedly huge amounts of time they had surely been contributing to the balls and functions. As the article below details, the club's Victory Night was a huge success and celebration, in which the contribution of the community was acknowledged.  

                                                                       Published June 1946.

The time had come for Beaconsfield to focus their efforts on rebuilding the community. This celebration would have been met with welcome feelings of relief for many of the attendees, as the end of the war and the beginning of a new chapter was marked. Beaconsfield, as with every town across the entirety of Australia, had lost fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters. The success of clubs like the Sister Susies of Beaconsfield displays the significant contributions and impact of the efforts made by those on the home front, during such difficult times. The dedication of members, alongside the generosity of the wider community demonstrates a small part of the Australian experience of war, and the strong spirit of those living through and fighting in the wars.

 

References

1-      The Dandenong Journal, ‘Younger set formed’, The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 26 March 1931, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201083127

 

Excerpts from articles, in order of appearance.

The Dandenong Journal, ‘Beaconsfield Sister Susies doing fine work’, The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 9 September 1942, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215710340

The Dandenong Journal, ‘£18 from Beaconsfield “Sister Susies” dance’, The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 19 April 1944, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214165310

The Dandenong Journal, ‘Beaconsfield “Sister Susies” celebrate 4^th birthday’, The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 30 August 1944, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214166958

The Dandenong Journal, ‘Beaconsfield Sister Susies’ Record-breaking birthday ball’, The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 29 August 1945, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page21584807

The Dandenong Journal, ‘Beaconsfield “Sister Susies” happy wind-up', The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), 26 June 1946, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214794234

 

 

Jack Dawson - A Beaconsfield Prisoner of War

 Written by Kate Davis, Casey Cardinia Libraries

Last month’s blog detailed the experiences of Beaconsfield locals Mr. and Mrs. Adamson, their family, and the town during the Second World War. In the interview, Bruce Adamson mentioned another Beaconsfield local, Jack Dawson and his prisoner of war status. This article will focus on Jack’s story.

John William ‘Jack’ Dawson was born April 10, 1919, in Brighton, to Gregory Dawson and Louise Harriet Horneman. At the age of 21, on July 3, 1940, Jack enlisted. At the time, he was living in Northcote and working as a clerk. Prior to his deployment, Jack trained at both Mount Martha and Seymour. From there, Jack was sent to Sydney and shipped out to Singapore on October 3, 1941. Over the next four months, Jack fought in the Australian Army 2/10 Field Company and was ranked as Sapper (general term that refers to all military engineers), service number VX34391 (1).

Jack in his military uniform.

In February 1942, Jack was wounded and listed as shell-shocked (2). This was most likely a post-traumatic stress response – of course this term was not yet used. Shortly after, on the 26^th of February, Jack was officially listed as a prisoner of war (3). It is likely that Jack had fought in the Battle of Singapore and was taken as a prisoner of war when Singapore fell to the Empire of Japan. In fact, in early 1942, over 22,000 Australians were captured by the Japanese army as they conquered parts of Southeast Asia (4). Most Australians captured in Singapore were immediately transferred to a collection of internment camps known as Changi (5). Many Australian prisoners in these camps were then forced to work on the Burma-Thailand railway. Jack’s service records suggest that he was one of thousands of prisoners of war who had worked on the Burma-Thailand railway.

Prisoners of war building a bridge using bamboo scaffolding at Tamarkan, across the Mae Klong River. This river is now known as the Kwai Yai River.

This railway, sometimes otherwise known as the Burma-Siam railway, was built from 1942 to 1943. This railway would provide an alternative supply line to Japanese forces in Burma and allow them to avoid using sea routes which had recently become risky after Japan lost significant naval strength in the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway in May and June of 1942 (7).

The working conditions on this railway were, as one might expect, horrendous. The track was 415kms long, and work was carried out on all sections simultaneously, rather than the railway being completed from each end and eventually meeting in the middle. This meant that during the monsoon season, many working parties went without integral supplies, due to immense rainfall affecting roads and pathways to these groups (8). Prisoners often worked without food or medicine (9), while building the railway with hand tools in rugged jungle areas (10). In total, 13,000 Australian prisoners of war worked on the railway, 2646 of whom died while undertaking this forced labour (11).

Prisoners of war laying track at Ronsi, Burma.

During World War Two, Japanese radio channels would broadcast lists and messages from prisoners of war. As Bruce mentioned in his interview, Jack’s name was included in these broadcasts for quite some time after his capture. Jack’s death though, was not reflected accurately through the Japanese broadcasts. Jack died on November 24, 1943, in Burma, from illness (12), but his death was not reported on until early 1945 and only published in the local paper in April 1945, 2 years after his actual death (13). Bruce recalls that this had been very difficult for Jack’s parents and his two sisters, all of whom had held out hope that Jack was still alive all that time. Jack was buried at the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Thanbyuzayat Mon State Myanmar, Burma and was posthumously awarded the 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and the Australian Service Medal 1939-1945 (14).

1945 article reporting on Jack’s death.

References

1. Beaconsfield Progress Association Incorporated, ‘Dawson John William’, Beaconsfield’s Soldiers [website], 2018-2021, https://beaconsfield.org.au/digitalmemorial/dawson-john-william/
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Department of Veterans’ Affairs [DVA], ‘Burma-Thailand Railway and Hellfire Pass 1942 to 1943, DVA Anzac Portal [website], 2021, para. 2, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/burma-thailand-railway-and-hellfire-pass-1942-1943
5. Australian War Memorial [AWM], ‘Changi’, AWM [website], 2020, para. 1, https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/pow/changi
6. Department of Veterans’ Affairs [DVA], op. cit., para. 4.
7. Department of Veterans’ Affairs [DVA], op. cit., para. 8.
8. Australian War Memorial [AWM], ‘Stolen years: Australian prisoners of war – the Burma-Thailand railway’, AWM [website], 2019, para. 2,  https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/stolenyears/ww2/japan/burmathai
9. Department of Veterans’ Affairs [DVA], op. cit., para. 5-6.
10. Australian War Memorial [AWM], ‘Prisoners of the Japanese, Burma-Thailand Railway’, AWM [website], 2021, para. 1, https://www.awm.gov.au/research/guide/pow-ww2-burma-thai
11. Australian War Memorial [AWM], ‘John William Dawson’, AWM [website], 2022, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1712007
12. Dandenong 1945 The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), ‘Death of Beaconsfield soldier in Thailand’, Trove [database], 18 April 1945, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214330916
13. Beaconsfield Progress Association Incorporated, ‘Dawson John William’, Beaconsfield’s Soldiers [website], 2018-2021, https://beaconsfield.org.au/digitalmemorial/dawson-john-william/

 

Images (in order of appearance)

Beaconsfield Progress Association Incorporated, ‘Dawson John William’, Beaconsfield’s Soldiers [website], 2018-2021, https://beaconsfield.org.au/digitalmemorial/dawson-john-william/

Australian War Memorial [AWM], ‘Burma-Thailand Railway. c. February 1943.’, AWM [website, accession number 118879, 1943, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C202573?image=1

Unknown Japanese photographer , ‘Collection of 40 images taken by a Japanese surveyor and exchanged in Thailand post war with QX15191 Arthur Francis Seary’, Australian War Memorial [website], accession number P00406.034, 1943, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C41431

The Dandenong Journal (Vic.: 1927-1954), ‘Death of Beaconsfield soldier in Thailand’, Trove [database], 18 April 1945, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214330916