Rescue Work Society Special Appeal

A photograph of three young children on a blue background. Red text circles the photograph on a white rim. 

The Sydney Rescue Work Society was established in 1890 and founded by George Edward Ardill, a printer and Gospel preacher. The Rescue Work Society was a non-denominational organization, founded on New Testament principles, and advocated for the reform of alcoholics and sex workers, and the protection of infants, women, and girls. The organization grew rapidly, and by 1911, it managed a variety of agencies including the South Sydney Women’s Hospital, Bethesda Home for Waiting Mothers, a training school for midwifery nurses, an adoption agency, and several homes for women, children, and the needy. These institutions were funded through the operation of a commercial laundry and the midwife training fees. 

Another way that the organization raised money to fund its operations was by organizing fundraising appeals and holding “button days” to sell pinback buttons and badges. Button days would be held all over Sydney and in neighboring towns, often at railway stations, and buttons just like this one valued at 1/-, 2/-, or 3/- were sold to raise money for specific organizations within the Rescue Work Society umbrella. 

** /- is the sign for British Shilling