From the Archives: Violet Robertson and Dorothy Robinson: VADs In London and Death on Rotten Row
Published on 18th October 2023 in From the ArchivesVIOLET ROBERTSON AND DOROTHY ROBINSON: VADs IN LONDON AND DEATH ON ROTTEN ROW
Each year on ANZAC Day RPGC’s women play for the Gwen Lough Trophy. It celebrates the contribution of Gwen Lough as the Commandant of Voluntary Aid Detachment 519, which for the duration of the Second World War was comprised of RPGC members. As with other VADs, 519 offered medical and associated support to those in active service.
However, the Club’s association with VADs goes back much earlier. VADs had operated in Australia during the First World War, but some Australian women chose to support the war effort closer to its source by travelling overseas to join British VADs. This was the case with several early members of the Perth Ladies GC—including two who, for very different reasons, never returned to golf at South Perth.
Violet Ann Robertson (ne Chapman) was born in Melbourne in 1885. In 1909 she married Alexander Robertson, an academically gifted mining engineer. Two years later the couple moved to Perth after Alexander took a position with the WA Mines Department.
Alexander didn’t take up golf, but Violet commenced with the Perth Ladies GC in 1912. She played regularly and her game improved steadily. She had a particularly strong 1914 season, winning several women’s trophy events and a mixed foursome. Violet also caused a surprise by making the final of the Club Championship, where she was defeated by the more experienced Mable MacGibbon. She was also active off-course, joining the PLGC Committee in 1914, and becoming the Honorary Secretary in 1915.
Life, however, was about to change rapidly and permanently for the Robertsons. Alexander enlisted in the AIF in early 1915 and departed for the Dardanelles in June as a Lieutenant with reinforcements for the 11th Battalion. He arrived at Gallipoli on August 4th and was killed in action two days later. The grieving Violet was described in the Perth press as “a prominent and successful competitor amongst the Perth [Golf Club] associates”, and Violet herself announced that she would “proceed to Egypt to assist in nursing wounded soldiers”. This wasn’t possible without a nursing qualification, so her alternative was to travel to London privately and join a VAD in the hospitals that had sprung up to take the repatriated wounded.
Violet planned to leave for London with her friends, sisters Dorothy and Ellen (‘Nellie’) Robinson, daughters of WA’s Attorney General Robert T. Robinson. Dorothy had played at Perth LGC since 1911, often alongside Violet. Violet and Nellie departed first. On reaching London they took a flat in Kensington and started work as VADs attending to war wounded at Coulter Hospital in inner London—a hospital with an ‘Australian room’. They were later joined by Dorothy, whose arrival was delayed when the ship on which she was a passenger (RMS Arabia) was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean, resulting in over a dozen deaths. Dorothy survived this ordeal by taking a lifeboat and trawler to Malta, and finally joined Violet and Nellie as a VAD at Coulter Hospital in January 1917.
Violet appears to have thrived as a VAD. She commenced as a wards-maid, and then qualified as a quartermaster, drug dispenser, and assistant electrician. She was, however, keen to be closer to the battle front, and by late 1917 had qualified to go to France as an ambulance driver. Sadly, this was not to be. On November 29th Violet spent an afternoon taking riding lessons from a recuperating light-horseman in Hyde Park. On the bridle path known as Rotten Row she was dislodged from her mount, and despite receiving prompt medical attention, died several hours later.
Violet’s final social event came three days before her death, when Dorothy Robinson married Dr Frank Fay, during a period when Fay was recuperating in London after being gassed in France while attached to the 14th Field Ambulance. Following the war the couple returned to live in Fay’s home-town of Melbourne, and then Hobart, where Dorothy played at Kingston Beach GC.
The fate of these two members of Perth LGC had therefore been decided very differently by the vagaries of war, and for both it brought an end to their golfing days at South Perth.
HICKORY HEAVEN: A DIFFERENT TYPE OF GOLF “BUG”
On Friday, October 13th a group of four, suitably-attired players teed off to play a match at Royal Perth with hickory shafted clubs. This may have been the first time in close to 100 years that hickory clubs have been used at South Perth.
The four golfers were RPGC member Dan Cullen; Barry Leithhead golf historian (Australian Golf Heritage Society) and dedicated hickory player from Pennant Hills GC, Sydney; and two members of Hickory Golf Western Australia in Clayton Gunning and Kurt Kuvekalovic. Play was contested over holes 1-12 from the gold tees.
The winner on the day was Barry, closely followed by Kurt, then Dan and Clayton. Three shots covered the field in a close contest. Kurt missed a two foot putt for birdie on the 12th to miss his opportunity, and Dan blew his chances when a mishit mashie niblick from 120m out in middle of the 10th fairway resulted in disaster –(7 strokes).
Post-match the players (and guests) came together on the verandah for a delicious lunch and to relive the better shots from the round. All agreed that Royal Perth is very compatible with hickory play—“hickory heaven” in fact—and are looking forward to a return visit. Dan also regaled the group with stories of his recent travel to Italy where he played several courses in Tuscany as part of the Italian National Hickory Championship. By all accounts hickory golf in Europe is thriving amongst a very sociable group of dedicated players.
For more information on how to get involved, visit the Facebook group Hickory Golf Western Australia; or email Dan on hickorygolfwa@gmail.com. Dan would love to have some more members join the hickory group and he has put together sets of clubs that you can rent. RPGC members will have the opportunity to participate in the next event which will occur later in the year. Why not have a crack – who knows you might catch “the bug”?