South Johnstone State School Junior Red Cross, the only remaining active group in Australia

MARIA GIRGENTI

THE Silkwood/Kurrimine Red Cross branch is extremely proud to have the South Johnstone State School Junior Red Cross as part of their branch, especially as it is the only Junior Red Cross still active in Australia.

Silkwood/Kurrimine branch members have maintained a close relationship with South Johnstone State School and kept the Junior Red Cross members engaged in their local community.

Since 2018, Year 3 - 6 students who became Junior Red Cross members learned skills such as sewing, craft, origami, knitting, cooking and weaving.

Students stated they enjoyed Junior Red Cross as it is “they learned new skills, social interaction, teamwork, confidence building, as well as making gifts for others and brightening up the lives of elderly residents.”

Each year, Junior Red Cross members created handmade Mother’s/Father’s Day/Christmas cards and gifts for residents at Warrina and Villa Nova residents, as well as presented concerts at the home.

In 2022, South Johnstone Junior Red Cross members ran a dreadnought stall at the Kurrimine Beach Progress Association markets.

Each year, at South Johnstone State School’s awards presentation, a Junior Red Cross member is awarded The Mary Robertson Citizenship Award who has shown the qualities of a responsible, reliable and excellent role model.

Junior Red Cross, formally established in Australia in 1918, is an iconic part of Red Cross history.

Youth were engaged in Junior Red Cross Society Groups through their school and/or their local Red Cross branch. By the 1930s, there were numerous Junior Red Cross Groups across Australia, and youth members were actively engaged in Red Cross activities and volunteer work.

Members recite the Pledge and strive to follow the seven Red Cross principles of Humanity (value people, not systems), Impartiality (no discrimination), Neutrality (take initiatives, not sides), Independence (respond to needs, not politics), Voluntary Service (committed with a desire for personal gain), Unity (work together to achieve our purpose) and Universality (work has no borders).

In late 2021, Japan’s Red Cross Society extended a hand of international friendship to the Australian Red Cross to connect the Seika Elementary School Junior Red Cross with a Junior Red Cross group in Australia.

This invitation went to Silkwood/Kurrimine branch, and from there, a lovely correspondence was established between the two Junior groups, with both creating an International Friendship topic album.

Silkwood State School Junior Red Cross leaders Helen Walsh and Kathy Ferguson ran Junior Red Cross at the school for 21 years before it closed in 2012.

During this time, Junior Red Cross members participated in a variety of fundraising activities for Cystic Fibrosis, Footy Colours, Daffodil, Butterfly, Red and White Days, Save the Children, Amnesty International, Salvation Army, flood and bushfire appeals, as well as Clean Up Australia Day.