Royal Adelaide Hospital Auxiliary

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:21): Today, I rise to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Auxiliary. In the gallery today, I am pleased to be joined by many of the 18 active volunteers of the RAH Auxiliary. I thank each and every one of them for their efforts, including Debbie Conlon for helping me bring everybody together to the parliament today to acknowledge this significant milestone. It was in June 1924 that a proposal was published in the Adelaide Observer by Lady Moulden, a local philanthropist, which stated:

Lady Moulden has submitted an offer to the Government to establish an auxiliary department at the Adelaide Hospital for the sale of refreshments for visitors and others and dainties suitable for patients, and for the free provision of linenware made at sewing meetings of the members of the committee. The Government is favourable to the scheme, and has promised to set apart a site for a kiosk in the Hospital grounds.

A few months later, Lady Moulden said of the auxiliary's impending establishment:

Our aim is not only to provide linen for the wards but to give something that cannot be bought, and that is human interest. We want the public to show its sympathy, for that will make a tremendous difference to the patients and staff.

It was last Tuesday 25 February that marked exactly 100 years since the Royal Adelaide Hospital Auxiliary volunteers officially began selling cakes, jams, magazines and toiletries in a small wooden cabin by the hospital's main entrance gate. Back then, all articles were donated and the cakes and jams were made by a few dedicated women in their own homes. By the end of that year, the kiosk had moved to its very own new building, the Sheridan Building, the small, round, iconic building on North Terrace that is now home to a new cafe, Table on the Terrace.

Initially, money was raised by the auxiliary to fund a women's hospital. Instead, a women's section was established in the east wing of the RAH, which was built in 1961, to which the auxiliary donated an incredible £171,000. From then on, financial assistance has been given to patients through the hospital Social Work Department, and in 1966 the auxiliary began providing funds for the purchase of specialised medical equipment for use within the hospital.

Some of the auxiliary volunteers were in the 'sewing room', which made thousands of sewn items for patients and wards and was last based in the stables in Austral House, now known as Ayres House. In 1990, after almost 65 years in its own little building, the kiosk moved into the new entrance to the hospital, and members enjoyed modern facilities and lots of space to cope with the ever-increasing trade. In 1993, the amount donated to the hospital for equipment and social work hit an incredible $1 million, and by 2024 almost $10.5 million had been donated back to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Since the move to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital the auxiliary now operates at SARAH's Gift Shop, which sells mostly locally designed and produced gift, craft and sewn items to patients, staff and visitors of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Donations are now focused on funding research into rare cancers through the RAH Research Fund.

Once again, I want to give my heartfelt thanks to current volunteers who join me in the gallery today, and to each and every volunteer who has donated their time and their talents over the last 100 years to give back to the hospital, its patients and their families. On a personal note, as a teenager, my family moved temporarily from Naracoorte to the city for one of my parents to undergo cancer treatment at the RAH, and I remember as a kid running down to the kiosk to sneak a chocolate or a soft drink and your beautiful friendly smiles were a real comfort to our family during that time, so thank you so very, very much.

Today we are joined in the gallery by Wendy Polkinghorne, Dorinda Coppe, Margaret McPhee, Barbara Burn, Mary Dowie, Ann Phillips, Shirley Cock, Chantal Tse, Virginia Parsonage, Debbie Conlin, Dorothy Divito, Jane Heyndyk, Nigel Divito and Elizabeth Bedgood. All of you are such kind, caring and committed quiet achievers and we are so incredibly grateful for your efforts. Happy 100^th.

The SPEAKER: Thank you again for all your tireless work, and what a great celebration it is for the centenary. Can I just ask the member for Unley and the member for Morialta, when people are doing their grievance debates if you could take your conversations out there or listen in silence, thank you.