Turkish bullet : Corporal T C P Gooda, 7 Battalion, AIF

Spent bullet flat base design made up of a lead core with a cupronickel jacket. Presumed to be from a 7.65 x 53 mm Turkish Mauser rifle.

This bullet seriously wounded Corporal Thomas Gooda on 22 May 1915 on the Gallipoli peninsula. Gooda, a grocer from Tongala in Victoria enlisted in 7 Battalion on 21 August 1914. He was assigned the regimental number 919 and embarked for Egypt on 19 October. He participated in the initial landings at Gallipoli and in May was shot through the right side of his chest. The bullet lodged in his spine, fracturing it and paralysing him. He was evacuated to Egypt and then transferred to Wandsworth hospital in London. His condition deteriorated and he died of his wounds on 7 September 1915. He was buried in Wandsworth Cemetery. The bullet was collected by Mrs Hilda Cornish, an Englishwoman who lived in Alexandria. Her home was frequently visited by Australian soldiers who were in the city. At the time of Gooda's hospitalization in England, Mrs Cornish was also in London and gained permission to sit with Corporal Gooda in the hours leading to his death. She kept the bullet and in 1975, when she was 93, arranged for it to be presented to the Australian War Memorial.