About this Item
(A) A small album (150 × 145 mm) with the hand-painted title 'Souvenir of Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria. 1914 to 1919', containing 45 (originally 48) small snapshots (45 × 63 mm) loosely inserted behind captioned window mounts. Fifteen photographs are of more than passing interest. The most fascinating one, 'Beersheba Stunt', features about a dozen Light Horsemen on the move and raising dust; one saddled horse appears riderless. Others include 'Turks from Rafa. Jan 9th 1917' (the day the city fell); 'Trench. Gaza, April 19th 1917' (a major defeat; see note on postcard, quoted below); 'Bivouacs at Khan Yunis, Palestine' (two photographs); and cameliers (three photographs). The other thirty photographs are routine images of the places along the way - Cairo, Port Said, Alexandria, El-Arish - ending up with four of Homs and five of Jerusalem. (B) A collection of 74 loose snapshots (generally 82 × 58 mm or the reverse). Approximately 40 (30 with captions on the verso) are views, mainly of Jerusalem and surroundings. The balance have some form of military content, and all but a handful are captioned (possibly by Tom or another family member, but presumably from information supplied by Vic). About 15 depict Australian soldiers in and around Jerusalem. However, there are 15 with captions like 'Camel holders at battle of "Gaza" 1917'; 'Prisoners from "Nablus", Palestine'; 'Imperial Troops on the march'; 'Troops (AIF) trekking forward to action front at Amman, "Desert of Zin"'; 'Huts (Magdhaba)' and 'Bedoins [sic] of "The bush"' (two members of the ICC roughing it). There are also seven miscellaneous photographs (four smaller, three larger) from Vic's active service life in the region, and a small group photograph sent from Epsom by Tom to Vic. (C) Eight contemporary portraits, four of Vic (three in uniform), and four of Tom; all eight have informative inscriptions on the verso. There is also a group portrait of signallers, presumably including Vic. (D) Nine commercial postcards, published in either Cairo or Jerusalem. All but one carry an extensive (and often highly informative) message from Vic to Tom; most of them are dated early March 1918. One example (reproducing a British Official Photograph) is 'No. 147. Landing stores on the coast'. Vic writes: 'This was evidently taken a long time ago up at Dir-el-Belah and was stores for the Gaza stunt. That was when we got knocked out on the 19th of April. We stayed in the reserve trenches, which were (wadis) until relieved in May 4th, then we came back to the canal. This was about 12 months ago'. (E) The menu from the 'First Annual Re-Union and Dinner. 14th Light Horse Regt. 1st Battalion Imperial Camel Corps. Phair's Hotel, Collins Street, Melbourne. 24th September, 1927' (card, duodecimo, 4 pages, the front cover printed, and tied with ribbons, in the regimental colours). Seller Inventory # 100957
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