By Maxwell Harris
From a little shed about the size of an old fashioned out house, near the pig and calf sale yards Aggie sold sandwiches, tea and coffee to raise money for the soldiers of both World Wars.
Aggie never missed these fortnightly sales where she sold refreshments, at her own cost, to the people attending the popular sales.
She raised £1000s for the benefit of the soldiers and during the 1939 – 1945 war, raised £6000. After both world wars were over, she still continued raising money for war veterans’ homes. Only Aggie’s death would stop her from her tireless fundraising.
It is stated that Aggie’s reason for giving so unselfishly of her time and food, was in memory of her younger brother-in-law who joined the army in August 1915 as a gunner and died in a field hospital in France on Xmas day 1916 of wounds to the head.
His name was Edward Platt, he was a 5ft 7inch fireman, only 21 years old in Beaudesert, when he joined.
Aggie, who came from Barcaldine, met Edward when she married his older brother Sam, a Teamster in 1914. They would not have any children together with Sam dying 21 years later in 1935 and Aggie in 1956.
Agnes Platt nee Graham, might have had no children to show she had been alive, but Beaudesert’s Aggie made her mark during her time, helping other people’s sons – The Aussie soldiers.
