Service dress breeches : Lieutenant Colonel A G Salisbury, 50 Battalion, AIF

Khaki woollen corduroy breeches. The breeches have a concealed five button fly, and six further buttons are spaced around the waistband for the fitting of braces. All the buttons are plastic. The concealed placket fastening to the fly is lined with lightweight buckran, while the waist is lined with khaki cotton. There is a slanted welt pocket on each side of the front waist. The inside legs are strapped with self fabric. Each leg fastens below the knee with a lace threaded through seven pairs of eyelets. The lace is present on the left leg only.

Alfred George ‘Dick’ Salisbury was born at Bowen Park, Queensland, in February 1885. As a young man, he was employed as a bank officer, but devoted much of his time to Militia service, and at the age of 29 had attained the rank of captain in the 7th (Moreton) Infantry Regiment. Enlisting in the AIF immediately after the First World War commenced, he retained his rank, and was appointed to command ‘A’ Company of 9 Infantry Battalion. 9 Battalion was the first unit to land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and Salisbury, now holding the rank of major, is believed to have been one of the first men ashore. In the chaos of the landing, despite being wounded himself, he took charge of the battalion when its commanding officer was wounded, and led it through the desperate fighting of the first few days. He retained command of the unit until the end of May, (when the CO returned) and served at Anzac until November, when he was finally evacuated ill. Salisbury returned to 9 Battalion before it moved to France, and again distinguished himself in the unit’s first major action on the Western Front, at Pozières in July 1916. For this he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The following month he was promoted lieutenant colonel and given command of 50 Battalion, the unit he was to lead for the remainder of the war. 50 Battalion (part of the 4th Australian Division) played a prominent part in many of the AIF’s pivotal battles, and Salisbury was awarded the French Legion d’honneur in 1917 and a Bar to the DSO in 1918 for his leadership of the night counter attack which secured possession of Villers Bretonneux. In 1919, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. A quiet and unassuming man, ‘Sally’ Salisbury, as he was known to his men, became a sheep farmer in Queensland after the war, but retained his interest in the military. In late 1939, he was appointed to oversee the Northern Command training depots, but the stress of this role and the consequent decline in his health led to his retirement in 1941. He died in Brisbane early the following year from hypertensive renal disease.