Decorated leaves from Gallipoli: Private Frederick Neville Harling, 21 Battalion, AIF

Three dried, damaged leaves decorated in ink.

The first leaf is decorated on one side with 'Dardanelles 16.10.15' [illegible picture beneath] and 'Merry Xmas. And a happy New [Year]' on the other.

The second leaf is decorated with 'Dard[anelles] 11.10.15 To Nino with love from Fred' on one side and a drawing of a soldier standing over the body of a dead soldier with the text 'Will they never come' on the other.

The third leaf is decorated with a sketch of a soldier firing from behind an embankement or parapet and a flower with the text 'with love from Fre[d]' and the other side has 'Dard's 11.10.15 To Jack with [lo]ve from Fred'.

These three leaves were decorated by 132 Private Frederick Neville Harling at Gallipoli and sent to Australia from Gallipoli before he was invalided sick. One is decorated with 'Merry Xmas and a happy New [Year]', but was decorated on 16 October, nine days before he was admitted ill. He decorated it early to accommodate the length of time it took for mail to get from Gallipoli to Australia.

Another leaf is address to 'Nino'. On its reverse is a sketch of an armed soldier standing over a dead soldier with the words, 'Will they never come'. This is his interpretation of a Victorian recruitment poster by Jim Hannan of a soldier standing over his dead mate, imagining crowds at the football and wondering if they will come to fight.

Harling served with the 21st Battalion on Gallipoli From September until 25 October 1915, when he became ill with enteric fever. He was first sent to Egypt and then sent to Australia due to his illness and was discharged in June 1916. He later re-enlisted for home service and served in Australia until 1921.