Kit bag : Lance Corporal R A Overy, 4 Machine Gun Company, AIF

Places
Accession Number REL32908
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Cotton drill
Maker Unknown
Place made United Kingdom
Date made c 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Small khaki cotton kitbag with cotton reinforced lace eyelets around the edge of the opening. The side of the bag is stencilled in black ink with the words: '205 R. E. OVERY 4TH. M. G. COY A.I.F'. The bag base is stencilled in black with the service number: '205'. Inside the bag opening is a black War Department stamp.

History / Summary

Richard Alfred Overy was a plumber from Haberfield, New South Wales when he enlisted on 7 September 1914, as a driver in 13 Infantry Battalion. With the regimental number 205, he sailed as an original member of the Battalion in December 1914. He was a non-commissioned officer and machine-gunner at Gallipoli and in France. Overy was transferred from 13 Infantry Battalion on March 1916 to 4 Machine Gun Company (MGC). During his time in France, rugby league was a favoured recreational activity, and a group of soldiers from 4 MGC formed a team, the 'Mudlarks', with a black and white bird silhouette upon the chest of their jerseys representing the Australian mudlark. Overy was seriously wounded in 1917 and returned to Australia on 10 January 1918.