Leather bound surveyor's tape measure : Warrant Officer J P Cotter, 3 Light Horse Field Ambulance, AIF

Large round leather bound tape measure case with 100 foot tape enclosed. The central brass winding handle is hinged to allow it to clip back for safe storage, and is stamped on the reverse '100 FT'. The leather on this side is impressed around the centre 'JOHN RABONE & SONS * BIRMINGHAM * ENGLAND", above which the date 1916 is stamped. The reverse is impressed 'RABONE'S METALLIC WIRED TAPE'. The leather is sewn around the circumference and features a brass mouth and a pair of sprung brass rollers to control the tape, which exits at this point. The actual tape is cloth with 8 integral wire reinforcing strips running its full length. One side of the tape is marked in inches (in black) and feet (in red) and the reverse marked with links. Between Link 3 and Link 4 is printed 'JOHN RABONE & SONS / MAKERS / BIRMINGHAM' ; 'TRADE MARK / (3 triangles) / HOCKLEY ABBEY' ; 'METALLIC TAPE'.

Surveyor's measuring tape with measurements in feet and links, used by Warrant Officer J P Cotter, 3 Light Horse Field Ambulance during service in the Middle East in the First World War. John ‘Jack' Cotter, born 26 September 1889, of Horsham, Victoria, enlisted on 15 November 1915 and for the following nine months was attached to the Australian Medical Corps (AMC) at Royal Park Training Camp where his ability at leadership quickly emerged and he was promoted gradually from Lance Corporal to Sergeant. His diary speaks of his frustration in this role, facing the prospect of being kept in Australia to train recruits. He finally embarked for active service aboard the HMAT ‘Karoola' on 19 August 1916 and disembarked at Suez a month later. He spent the remainder of his service in the Middle East, attached to 14 Australian General Hospital (AGH), Cairo; No 2 Australian Stationary Hospital; 3 Light Horse Field Ambulance (3LHFA) and lastly 4 Light Horse Regiment. His diary (reproduced in ‘From Hopes and Dreams' by Geraldine Rush, Fast Books, 1993) records his experiences on campaign once he had left the relative calm of No 2 Australian Stationary Hospital (where he served from 5 May to September 1917), but not before his leadership transformed the morale of hospital staff to the point where he was mentioned in dispatches (20 November 1917) for ‘outstanding service in the field'. He joined the 3LHFA with a promotion to Warrant Officer, responsible for maintenance of the unit, organisation of the bearers, camels and horses and laying out temporary hospitals in anticipation of casualties, just as the Regiment was advancing into Palestine and heading for Beersheba. Cotter used the surveyor's tape to assist him in laying out tents in the proper fashion. His diary records the movements towards and through Imara, Haj, Tel El Hesi, Cadud, Sukereir, Mugharah, Mejdel, El Burj, Hezieh, Suiffen, Katra and Esdud over November and December 1917, caring for Australian, British and Turkish casualties, enduring shelling (2.12.17 ‘Awakened at 2 am with shells falling all around us. Very severe fighting until noon.'), retrieving casualties (9.11.17 ‘At Haj. Very heavy day yesterday over rough ground galloping in and out of action'), forced marches and bad rations (10.11.17 ‘Shaved and washed for the first time for four days. Have not had clothes or boots off for nearly two weeks. Dirt was caked on thick, the accumulation of jam and grease of many meals.'), and the trying conditions (24.12.17 ‘Christmas Eve. Rain, rain and more rain, then, wind and mud. Impossible to imagine the elements in a more wild and tempestuous condition. ... an attack we were to make today was postponed.'). Towards the end of the campaign, Cotter attended Officer Training School at Zeitoun (near Cairo), graduating as a Second Lieutenant on 2 January 1919 and was taken on strength with 4 Light Horse Regiment. He returned to Australia aboard the ‘Essex', bringing his younger brother Denis (15100 Private Denis Cotter, 58 Battalion) home with him. Cotter also served during the Second World War, this time with the 13 Light Horse Regiment, but failing health, and his age (54) saw him placed on the Retired List on 4 December 1943. He died in 1956.