Other ranks' service dress jacket with shrapnel damage : Major James Heane, AIF

Australian Army Other Ranks' pattern khaki woollen service dress jacket worn by an officer. The unlined jacket is made of khaki woollen twill fabric with a five button closure. It has a stand and fall collar with a hook-and-eye fastening at the throat. There is a pleated patch pocket on each breast, with pointed flaps secured by a single button. Below the waist are a pair of expanding patch pockets, which also have pointed button flaps. Inside the jacket behind the right hand waist pocket is a single open pocket designed to hold a field dressing. The integral belt at the waist has had its buckle cut off, and is secured in place by a single concealed button. There is a central pleat below the yoke on the back of the jacket, flanked on each side by a pair of smaller pleats under the belt. The cuffs are fastened by a single button, and the sleeves each have a rectangular black over green wool flannel colour patch (of 1 Battalion AIF) sewn on below the shoulder. All buttons on the jacket are pale brown plastic or horn with a tortoise-shell finish. There are no general service collar badges, rank insignia or shoulder titles, but holes in the fabric show where they were originally fitted, and there are indelible pencil markings on the shoulder straps, outlining the rank badges of a lieutenant colonel. Stamped in black ink inside the yoke is the manufacturer's marking 'A.STEEDMAN SIZE 26 1914', and in white ink inside left front panel is 'A.A.O.D. (broad arrow) V 31.6.1913'. This marking is thought to relate to the manufacture of the fabric, rather than the jacket. On the right shoulder, right sleeve, left waist pocket and central rear hem are pencilled circles indicating entrance and exit holes made by pieces of shrapnel.

This jacket was worn by Major (later Brigadier General) James Heane at the landing at Anzac on 25 April 1915, and throughout the Gallipoli campaign. Heane was born in Sydney, NSW, in 1874, and served enthusiastically in the cadets as a young man. In 1899 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the militia, serving with 3 Australian Infantry Regiment and 2 Light Horse Regiment. On the outbreak of war in 1914, he joined the AIF, becoming a captain with 4 Infantry Battalion. By the time of the landing at Gallipoli, he had been promoted to major and placed in command of D Company.

He quickly earned the nickname 'Cast Iron Jimmy' amongst his men for his coolness and apparent invulnerability to enemy fire, and in May 1915 was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. During the attack on Lone Pine on 6 August 1915, Heane was slightly wounded in the neck while crossing No Man's Land. Passing the first line of Turkish trenches, he was hit in the thigh by a bullet which passed through the lower pocket of his jacket. He lay on the ground until about 8 pm, when he was again wounded by shell splinters in the hand, knee, and right shoulder, evidence of several of these wounds being visible on the jacket. His wounds caused Heane to be evacuated to hospital in Egypt, and he was not fit to rejoin his unit before the evacuation of Anzac in December.

In early 1916, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and placed in command of 1 Battalion, which was about to move to the Western Front. The presence of 1 Battalion colour patches and lieutenant colonel's rank markings on this jacket indicate that Heane must have continued to wear the garment in which he was wounded at Gallipoli for some time afterwards. He proved a successful leader on the Western Front, rising to command 2 Australian Infantry Brigade as colonel, and being appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). He was also awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and seven times mentioned in despatches. Between the wars, Heane was a successful orchardist, and was also leader of the secretive far right wing 'Old Guard' movement in NSW. During the Second World War, he held command of the state Volunteer Defence Corps units, but retired in 1942. 'Cast Iron Jimmy' Heane died in Sydney in August 1954.