A photo montage of descendants of the late Benjamin Rixon of Illawarra who served in the First ...

A photo montage of descendants of the late Benjamin Rixon of Illawarra who served in the First World War. Benjamin Rixon was the son of convicts James Rixon, who arrived in New South Wales in 1798 and Amelia Goodwin, who arrived in 1800. He was one of two surviving triplets, the first white triplets to be born in Australia and who were featured on the front page of the Sydney Gazette on Saturday January 19, 1806. Almost all the men depicted are great-grandsons of Rixon. Included in the collage are: 2236 Private (Pte) Percival George Murray, Army Medical Corps (AMC) (1); 513 Pte William Keith Rixon, 3rd Battalion (killed in action 13 June 1915) (2); 5743 Pte Sidney George Sleep, 9th Battalion (3); Lieutenant Thomas Samuel Jones, 2nd Light Horse Regiment (2LHR) (4); 2713 Bombardier Ewing Vincent "Hugh" Holland, 13th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) (5); 5742 Pte Oliver Robert Sleep, 9th Battalion (6); 87 Pte George Vincent Rixon, 13th Battalion (killed in action 3 May 1915) (7); Pte Leslie George Clarke (8); 938 Pte Clement John Gribble, 30th Battalion (killed in action 22 March 1917) (9); 2640 Pte Norman Henry Donald, 56th Battalion (10); 979 Pte Norman Arthur Gribble, 4th Battalion (killed in action 19 May 1915) (11); 6462 Pte Percy Bailey, 13th Battalion (12); 1540A Trooper (Tpr) Cecil Charles Bailey, 12 LHR (13); 3594 Pte John J Barlogio, 55th Battalion (14); 30305 Driver Harold Ward Simpson, 5th Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC) (15); 3694 Trooper Reginald E. Bailey, 1 LHR (16); 960 Sergeant Major John James Salisbury (17); 472 Pte Maurice Morgan Rixon, 3 LHR (first name recorded as Norman in the photo montage) (18); 89 Sergeant (Sgt) William Murray Salisbury, 3rd Battalion (19); 1663 Tpr Reginald G Maguire, 7 LHR (20); 1539A Tpr Errol John Bailey, 12 LHR (21); 2984 Sgt Henry Oswald (Harry) Thwaite, 56th Battalion (22); 6264 Pte Ernest Alfred Haines, 13th Battalion (23); 1908 Pte Arthur John Rixon, 2 LHR (died of accidental injuries, 15 January 1918) (24); 2438 Pte Sydney William George Kirk, 45th Battalion (25); 1177 Sgt Kenneth James Rixon, 1st Battalion (26); Chaplain Arthur Hazlehurst Gribble (27); 1707 Pte Herbert Charles Leslie Kirk, 45th Battalion (28); 5183 Pte Charles Henry McGoldrick, 1st Battlion (died of wounds 16 September 1916) (29); 386 Pte Oliver Rowland Thwaite, 17th Battalion (30); 32 Tpr Vernon William Murray, 6 LHR (killed in action 22 May 1915) (31); 5070 Pte James Crane, 1st Battalion (32); 6098 Pte Frederick James Sleep, 9th Battalion (died of wounds 7 November 1916) (33); Tpr Francis Peter (Frank) Norris (34); A J Rixon (a pre-war portrait - see photograph 24 for Rixon in uniform) (35); 3065 Pte Frederick Charles Barlogio, 1st Pioneer Battalion (36); 1693 Pte Vivian Clarence Lancelot Kirk, 53rd Battalion (37) and 5957 Tpr Bertie George Rixon, 2 LHR. The collage was published on the front of the Sydney Mail on 24 July, 1918. Tpr Bertie Rixon was killed in action three weeks later on 14 July 1918. The production of the photo montage was initiated in 1918 by Margaret Lucinda Salisbury of Woonona, Wollongong, NSW, a granddaughter of Benjamin Rixon.