“I spent Christmas Day in a nice way, first opening my Christmas box … then going to church, and later sharing dinner with 56 children and 24 adults.” So wrote young Lola Robin of Allora in 1940 of her first visit to the seaside, at the CWA’s holiday house, Linga Longa, at Sandgate.
Lola was one of many bush children treated to a seaside holiday by the CWA, many of whom had never been away from home. For most, it was also their first experience of the sea. Their anticipation and excitement must have been intense at the best of times but almost feverish if their visit was at Christmas.
Holiday Traditions and Heartfelt Giving
Imagine the noise level as they expressed their delight at the colourful Christmas tree, laden with gifts, that was always set up under the house, the house itself decorated with coloured lanterns and balloons. They were treated to a high tea, with puddings and sweets and, one year, a “gaily ornamented and iced two-tier Christmas cake”. Father Christmas made his annual appearance to distribute toys and other gifts to the children and, for their mothers, “little presents of soap, perfumery, and handkerchiefs”.
The bush children of Linga Longa were not the only small people spending Christmas away from home. From when it opened in 1887, the Lady Musgrave Sanatorium in Shorncliffe provided accommodation and respite for sick children. Despite their ill health, Christmas was a special time for them, too, and many kind people made strenuous efforts to provide treats for the little patients.
Among these was the Toowong branch of the Ministering Children’s League, an organisation aimed at teaching young people the importance of service to others. The league’s members, who were, as the Brisbane Courier reported in 1924, “in many instances of the same age as the children they so solicitously entertained”, made an annual pilgrimage to Sandgate to provide festive fun for the inmates of the sanatorium. Throughout the year, they made gifts and raised money to fund the revelry and at Christmastime, they provided and decorated the tree and played games with the young convalescents.
The sanatorium’s ladies’ committee also contributed to the merriment, donating sweets, toys and picture books for the children and items like pot plants and table coverings to decorate the wards. Others likewise contributed to the seasonal cheer; for years, little Bobby Neech of Nundah collected sweets from his friends to give to his sick contemporaries.
All those kind folk embody the true spirit of Christmas: the joy of giving rather than receiving.
Read more stories from the Sandgate Guide print magazine here:
- The Adventures of Alex and Joe
- Rent vs Home Ownership
- Organic Gardening in December
- New Year, New Home Renovation? The Time To Start Planning Is Now
- A Stitch in Time on Screen
- Beyond Orientation – Tips For Starting High School
- The Story Of Bruce – Sandgate’s Beloved Christmas Icon
- Photographer Hangs Up His Hat
- Yuletide on the Bayside
- Jason’s Quality Meats Triumphs at QLD Sausage King Awards
- Raise a Glass to Christmas Tunes
- Bramble Buzz: Updates from the Community
