Published on Tuesday, 27 January 2026 at 5:46:28 PM
Happy #TimeWarpTuesday folks!
Whilst preparing for refurbishment work in the staff workroom – the powerhouse of the Library – we will be doing a mini highlight of some of our early editions of Time-warp Tuesday. This week’s highlight is from 21 January 2020…
This week we are featuring a photograph of Ms Jessie Thornton Rafferty who was the local Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) Quartermaster and secretary for St John’s Ambulance during World War I. In the photograph Jessie is in her uniform with arm band, the insignia on which is for the St John Ambulance Volunteer Aid Detachment. She wears a cap and apron, the later having the initials V A D on the front. Jessie is standing in front of a house with a verandah, possibly her house at 20 Teddington Road, Burswood (then Victoria Park).
PH00025-01 Jessie Rafferty, VAD Quartermaster and secretary for St John's Ambulance during WWI
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library Service.
From what little we know about Jessie, she was born 5 November 1891 in Paisley, Scotland and never married. Her mother died before she, her father and three siblings immigrated to Western Australia. After the war Jessie continued her work with the VAD and St John Ambulance, continuing to live with one of her sisters at 20 Teddington Street, until the late 1970’s when they moved to 32a Mackie Street, Victoria Park. Jessie died on 21 December 1980, she was 89.
The Volunteer Aid Detachment or VAD was formed in England in 1909 with assistance of the British Red Cross and the Order of St John. At the outbreak of war in 1914 both organisations decided to work together officially so that St John personnel would have the protection of the Red Cross, and there would be no duplication of efforts. The VAD consisted of “(a) Men’s detachments. (b) Women’s detachments. These later were comprised of: 1 Commandant (man or woman, not necessarily a doctor), 1 Quartermaster (man or woman), 1 trained nurse or lady superintendent and 20 women of whom four should be qualified as cooks.
The detachments were composed of women who had undergone a course of lectures and training in first aid and home nursing, cooking and laundry work: many had also learned transport and stretcher drill[s]”.
Cloth arm band of the St John Ambulance VAD (1916), this is the same type of band and insignia featured on Jessie Rafferty’s arm in the photograph.
Source: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40925009.
VADs worked in hospitals, they were cooks, and ambulance drivers and made important contributions to the war effort on all fronts. Agatha Christie, famous English novelist, was also a member of the VAD and several of her novels feature characters who were VADs.
Do you have stories or photos to share about the Hall, or the new Carlisle Memorial Hall that was built on the same site in much later years? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via telephone: 08 9373 5500, email: vicparklibrary@vicpark.wa.gov.au, by mail: PO Box 1109, East Victoria Park WA 6981 or in person at 27 Sussex Street, East Victoria Park.
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Reference: 1915 'Women and War.', Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), 25 December, p. 29. , viewed 15 Jan 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37597513
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