A Record of the 41st, 42nd, 43rd & 44th Battalions, 11th Brigade
Amesbury, England: printed "In Camp" by the Battalion, circa 1918. Octavo pamphlet in original printed wrappers, 28 pp., illustrated. Covers chipped, some foxing, but good condition overall. Scarce First World War Australian Battalion history.
The preface gives some indication of the production of the pamphlet, being the work of Private H. MacPherson, with sketches by Private W.H. Smith. The author writes:
'This work is a continuation of the career of the 44th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces from Western Australia. We find that the Battalion is now absorbed by the 11th Brigade; consequently the publication assumes a Brigade aspect. We have endeavoured to portray the different affairs at the training camps with a splash of history interwoven.'
Typical of such Battalion mementos produced in training camps in the English countryside, this publication reflects the lives of soldiers at rest from the harrowing conditions across the channel in European battlefields. The author describes the terrain as similar to the Western plains of New South Wales, and includes some information on Stonehenge and local hamlets. Light hearted digs at the officers and mixed with poems (including one such verse named 'The Kaiser's Dream'). The pamphlet concludes with an illustrated page titled 'A London Girl's Opinion of the Australian Soldier' penned by one Nellie Ellis, who is gushing in her enthusiasm for the ANZAC boys about town.
The pamphlet is rare and only three copies are held in Australian institutional collections, at the State Libraries of New South Wales and Western Australia, and also at the War Memorial in Canberra. It is not recorded in the Bibliography of Australin Army Unit Histories by Trigellis-Smith and others, although Battalion histories for the 41st, 42nd and 43rd are included. Likewise, the pamphlet is not included in 1963 checklist Australian Military Bibliography by C.E. Dornbusch. However, both Trigellis-Smith and Dornbusch note that an informal account of life in the 44th Battalion was published by one Captain Longmore (Perth, 1921).
The pamphlet bears the colophon of Bennet Brothers, printers in Salisbury. Item #4145
Price (AUD): $350.00