The Southport RSL is a sub-branch of Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) in Southport, Gold Coast in South East Queensland, Australia. Their building (known as the Southport RSL Memorial Club or more recently as RSL Club Southport branch) is at 36 Scarborough Street, Southport. The Southport RSL is a registered not-for-profit charity. [1]
In November 1881, it was proposed to construct a School of Arts at Southport. [2] In October 1883, the Queensland Government set aside a reserve for the School of Arts and by the end of the month the building was completed. [3] [4] [5]
In April 1919 a meeting of returned soldiers from World War I decided to establish a Southport sub-branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia. [6]
In August 1938 the Southport branch of the Returned Soldiers' League proposed to take over the School of Arts building, which had been modernised in 1934, to continue its role as a School of Arts as well as being a clubhouse for the Southport RSL. [7] [8] In December 1938, a meeting of the subscribers of the School of Arts (which was short of funds) agreed to hand over the building to the RSL in return for the RSL renovating the building, upgrading the furniture and expanding the library. [9] The RSL took over the building to accommodate its growing membership and established a women's auxiliary. [10]
In 1952 the Southport RSL planned to build a new 2-storey brick building in front of the existing building to be completed in about 18 months. [11] However, it was not completed until 1956. The brick building was subsequently refurbished on a number of occasions with a major renovation in 1996. [12]
The public services offered by the Southport RSL include a restaurant, cafe and bars as well as entertainment and a gaming room. [13] These services provide the funding for the Southport RSL to deliver on its primary mission, which is to support current and former military personnel and their families through practical assistance with matters of physical and mental well-being, being able to access pensions and other government assistance, and by advocacy for better facilities and services. [14]
At the Southport RSL building there are two war memorials, the Roll of Honour for World War I service created by the Southport Shire Council (a forerunner of the present Gold Coast City Council) which hangs inside the building and the Southport RSL Cenotaph which is outside the building on the corner of Scarborough and Lawson Streets flanked by flagpoles.
The Roll of Honour was first proposed and agreed upon at a meeting of the Southport Shire Council in July 1916. [15] The roll was unveiled by James Tolmie, as part of the annual Southport Show in September 1916 (which was donating all its proceeds to the Red Cross). Tolmie was then the Leader of the Opposition in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, but more pertinent to the unveiling, he had enlisted at age 53 in the Australian Imperial Force and, as a major, was in command of a troop ship. [16] [17]
To accommodate larger numbers of people, Southport RSL holds its major commemorative services such as the annual Anzac Day ceremonies at the Southport War Memorial and Memorial Gates at ANZAC Park in the Broadwater Parklands. [18] [19] [20] After the pre-dawn march and dawn ceremony at the Southport War Memorial on Anzac Day, a "gunfire breakfast" (includes rum) is served at the Southport RSL clubhouse. A second ceremony is held mid-morning. [21]
The Southport War Memorial (originally erected at the end of Nerang Street beside the Broadwater) was unveiled on 25 April (Anzac Day) 1922 by John Appel, the local Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in the presence of the largest-ever crowd in Southport. The memorial is 18 feet (5.5 m) and consists of a base surmounted to digger statue (both made of Helidon sandstone) with marble tablets on the sides of the base listing the names of those who died. [22]
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Gold Coast Hospital, located at 98–136 Nerang Street, Southport was a major teaching and referral hospital and the third largest in Queensland. The Gold Coast Hospital had one of the busiest emergency departments in the state. The Hospital admitted over 60,000 patients annually.
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The South Coast railway line was a railway from Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Australia. The route via the South Coast to Tweed Heads on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. The line operated from 1889 to 1964. The Gold Coast railway line re-opened in 1996 along a modified alignment in the north and a new route south but does not extend as far south yet as the South Coast line.
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Southport State High School is a secondary school situated in Southport on the Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia. Southport State High School was the first public high school on the Gold Coast, celebrating its 100th Centenary in 2016. 'Respice Finem' remains the school motto to this day, meaning 'to look to the end result'. Some of the Southport State High School Buildings are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
The Enoggera Memorial Hall, formerly the Enoggera Memorial Hall and School of Arts, is World War I memorial hall at 349 Wardell Street, Enoggera, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It currently houses the historical collection of the Enoggera and Districts Historical Society and is otherwise used as a hall for hire. The building was designed by former Queensland Government Architect, Colonel Thomas Pye, and was opened in November 1925. It is listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.
James Laurence Watts (1849–1925) was a sculptor in Queensland, Australia. He was one of the pioneer sculptors in Australia and his works appear in many Queensland public buildings and places.
Woody Point Memorial Hall is a heritage-listed school of arts at Hornibrook Esplanade, Woody Point, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hubert George Octavius Thomas. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 March 2014.
David John Garland (1864–1939) was an Anglican clergyman and a military chaplain in Queensland, Australia. As senior army camp chaplain in Queensland from 1914 to 1917, Garland experienced the World War I both at home and at the front. He was one of the originators of the now annual Anzac Day ceremonies. Described as "overpoweringly energetic with a distinctive flair, if not genius, for organisation", he played a pivotal role in the Queensland experience of the war, and was a central figure in a variety of committees and organisations established to aid the war effort and support or commemorate serving or returned soldiers.
Anzac Day is a day of remembrance in Queensland, Australia. It is a public holiday held on 25 April each year. The date is significant as the Australian and New Zealand troops first landed at Gallipoli in World War I on 25 April 1915.
The Queensland Recruiting Committee was a volunteer organisation in Queensland, Australia, which urged Queensland men to enlist for military service during World War I. It operated from May 1915 to December 1916, when it was replaced by an Australian Government recruitment organisation, the Queensland State Recruiting Committee.
The Hotel Cecil is an Art Deco hotel located on the south western corner of the intersection of Scarborough and Nerang Streets in Southport, Queensland, Australia. It has been recommended that it be added to the Queensland Heritage Register due to its rarity, high architectural value and contribution to the character of the street.
Thomas Ramsay Hall was an architect practicing in Brisbane, Australia, during the first half of the twentieth century and was involved in the design and construction of numerous major buildings in South East Queensland including the Queensland Heritage Register listed Brisbane City Hall.
