Patriotic Committee formed at Homebush

Homebush Lower was four miles north-east of Avoca. Today only the school building remains but it was still a small town during World War I. The towns of Homebush and Homebush Lower, also known as Lower Homebush, were founded on gold mining in the 1860s and in the 1880s were at their peak.

On 10 September 1914 a meeting was held at Homebush to discuss and raise funds for the Patriotic Fund.

HOMEBUSH, LOWER. (1914, September 16). Avoca Free Press and Farmers' and Miners' Journal (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved September 16, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151625374

Messrs Samers, Deeble and Wood travelled from Avoca to address the meeting.

A Patriotic Committee was formed with Mr W. Miller elected the president and Mr C. H. Squires, the secretary and treasurer. Mesdames Garner and Barry were appointed to collect the funds for Homebush Lower and Miss M. Shiell for Upper Homebush.

Lennox, Lindsay & Gray, Stanhope (1890). Scarlet and blue. W. Paxton & Co. ; Melbourne : E.W. Cole Book Arcade, London

Patriotic songs were sung during the evening including:

• "Red, White, and Blue"
• "Scarlet and Blue"
• "Australia"
• the National Anthem, "God Save the King"

The "Red, White and Blue" was written in 1852, nine years after the very similar "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean", a United States patriotic song.

Britannia, the pride of the ocean, The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of the patriot's devotion, No land can compare unto thee: Thy mandates make heroes assemble, With garlands of glory in view, Thy banners make tyranny tremble, When borne by the Red, White and Blue. Refrain: Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue, Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue, Three cheers for the Army and Navy, Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue,

When war spread its wide desolation, And threaten'd our land to deform, The ark, then of freedom's foundation, Britannia rode safe through the storm: With the garlands of vict'ry around her, So nobly she bore her brave crew, Her flag floating proudly before her, The flag of the Red, White and Blue. Britannia, the pride of the ocean, And so of a truth shall she be. While true in her loyal devotion, To all that is noble and free: The fire that glows in her story, Still burns in the hearts of her sons, And her flag shall still lead her to glory, When duty shall march with her guns.

The "Scarlet and Blue" song was composed in 1890.