History
Wartime fundraising and the role of Brisbane’s ‘Tank Bank’
CHRIS CURRIE opens the hatch and climbs into State Library of Queensland’s collections to uncover how public contributions to the war effort were encouraged.
War is an expensive business. To help cover the costs during World War I, government-issued war bonds were made available to all Australians. Payments were made as loans to the government that would be paid back after the war with ‘handsome’ interest and little or no tax.
The First War Loan was announced on July 1, 1915, and raised £13 million – well above the asked-for amount of £5 million.
By 1918, however, much larger sums were needed, and the Sixth War Loan – launched on February 17 – arrived with a formidable national target of £40 million.
Newspaper reports at the time stated that Queensland had “nearly the worst record in the Commonwealth” when it came to war contributions, with “wealthy, patriotic” Brisbane singled out for its stinginess.
“This is the time for patriots,” proclaimed The Daily Mail, “and not for day-dreamers.”
To help achieve this ambitious target, a series of bold publicity stunts were planned.
They would be called ‘Tank Banks’ and their activation in cities around Australia would not be out of place in a modern media campaign.
The idea was based on a successful British campaign from the previous year in which a real army tank – affectionately known as Egbert – was recovered from the battlefield at Cambrai in Northern France and displayed at Trafalgar Square to inspire the public to buy similar war bonds and certificates.
On Wednesday, April 3, 1918, Brisbane’s own Tank Bank was set up in Queen Street, outside the General Post Office, as part of an Australia-wide campaign called Tank Week.
While the tank itself was actually a replica – made “in exact conformity with picture representations of those used by the British on the West Front” – its mission was clear: “To make an offensive against those who have the money and do not like to part with it”.
The first war bond was bought by the then mayor of Brisbane John McMaster (the picture from The Queenslander is said to capture this very moment), with many others following.
The event also featured impassioned four-minute speeches given by guest speakers who stood atop the tank. One such speech was delivered with a poetic flourish by a Lieutenant Little: a blind returned soldier who implored those present to invest in war bonds.
“If they could not shoulder rifles,” proclaimed Little, “they could shoulder war bonds. They could bind themselves with golden chains of sympathy to the gallant men now fighting for the maintenance of the Empire.”
The first day was a resounding success. Within three minutes, £65,000 had been raised. At the end of the day, £107,390 had been raised from 390 applications. By the Friday, the amount had grown to £296,940. On Tuesday, April 9, alone, receipts exceeded £194,000, with a crowd “a perfect whirl of thousands” cheering every announcement.
The most astonishing results were reserved for the final day of Tank Week: Wednesday, April 10.
With the day’s total already sitting at £100,000, the Queensland government fired “a surprise shot”, purchasing £200,000 in bonds.
The week’s final sum amounted to some £1.5 million – over $165 million in today’s money – making up about half of Queensland’s £3 million contribution to the £42,944,360 subscribed across the country from 143,870 applicants.
“It is doubtful,” wrote Commonwealth loan organiser George McDonald Dash, “if any public campaign was ever more spontaneously helped by every section of the community than the Sixth War Campaign.”
This is just one of many World War I stories. Explore more at slq.qld.gov.au/collections
